In The Shadows
by Moofy-Fan
Summary: Selim Bradley is a normal child, or that's what he thinks at least. Years after the fabled 'Promised Day' Selim struggles to untangle the mysteries of his past, although he might not be prepared for what he finds.
1. Chapter 1

Hello one and all. Just how many Pride stories am I going to write? The world will never know! Ah well, the kid needs love. This takes place a few years after most of the one shots in Garden Chats, although you don't need to read them for this to make sense. It's also about seven years after the end of FMA, so Selim's around ten.

Disclaimer- I do not own Full Metal Alchemist, I could never be that amazing.

Chapter 1

Selim Bradley stared out his window impatiently. His mother had said Al was coming over today, and he wished he would hurry up and get there. Alphonse Elric had been a lot like an older brother to him over the years. He had never known his father, and although Al was not old enough to be his by far, it was still the closest thing he had. Glancing back to his bed he saw his cat, shadow, asleep on top of a stuffed doll. It was of a suit of armor, Al had given it to him years ago.

That suit of armor. It reminded him, maybe he should tell Al about those dreams he's been having once he showed up. He didn't tell his mother about them, because he was too old to be running to his mommy about nightmares, but telling Al was different.

Before he could get up to go grab his cat and the beat up old doll, a car pulling into the driveway caught his eye. Looking back out the window, he saw the car screech to a halt. Defiantly Al, he was a terrible driver. His mother trusted him with Al almost anywhere, except in a car with him behind the wheel.

About to run downstairs to greet him, he stopped. Looking back out the window, he saw a blond head stepping out of the passengers side. Leaning closer to the windowpane Selim frowned. Edward.

Don't ask him why, but Selim had never liked Al's brother all that much. When he was little, he had been terrified of the short blonde. It wasn't that he was mean, or anything like that, he just… Okay, he was still scared of him, but he didn't know why. It wasn't like he was a cowered, he wasn't afraid of many things at all, actually.

Turning away from the window he figured there was no helping it. He was already here. Walking down the stairs he could hear the front door open.

"Oh Edward, Alphonse, so glad you could come," Selim could hear his mother's voice from the front room. She was older then most of his friend's mothers, but he didn't mind. She was always so nice to him, and she was all he had family wise.

"No problem Mrs. B, what was it you wanted us to fix again?" Ed's voice this time. Oh, so they were here to fix something, that was understandable. There deck had collapsed about two weeks ago. His mother had been terrified when it happened. Selim had just come in off it, saying he heard a strange creaking noise, and when he shut the door, the whole left side of the deck had come down. She didn't let him anywhere near the rubble, no matter how careful he said he would be.

"The deck, it just fell down two weeks ago. Selim had just come off of it too, it was so scary." Selim stepped into the doorway, but didn't interrupt the adults.

"Well, thankfully nothing happened. Don't worry, we'll fix it in no time," Al said happily. Mrs. Bradley nodded.

"Thank you again," She said. Al looked over to where Selim was watching them and smiled.

"Hey there, didn't hear you come in," he said. Selim nodded, people always said that, apparently he was as quiet as his cat.

"Can I watch you guys work on the deck?" he hoped they said yes, and he also hoped they fixed it with alchemy. Ever since he was little he was fascinated with the stuff. Al promised to teach him when he was older. Al glanced over at his mother, who nodded.

"Sure," he said, and Selim ran out of the room to get his shoes. He wasn't surprised that Ed hadn't said anything, he didn't talk to him much. He wasn't sure what it was, but Edward, along with a few people from the military who came to visit his mother from time to time, all had this vibe around them. They didn't trust him for some reason, but he couldn't figure out why.

There was one women, he'd only seen her once or twice, but she didn't trust him in the least. She didn't show it very much though, but when he had first met her, just a few years ago, she'd tensed up. She was in the army, and Selim had seem her hand twitch towards the pistol she kept on her, and her eyes had gotten very cold. All this only lasted a second before she was back under control, and she greeted him politely.

"Selim, are you coming?" Al called from the other room. Tying his shoe quickly, Selim stood up.

"Yes!" and with that, ran after the two brothers. To Selim's disappointment, Al didn't fix the whole thing in one alchemic swoop. Al had told him several times that alchemy was not the answer to all of life's problems, and tried to prove that point as much as possible. After a few hours his mother came out with drinks and told the Elrics to take a break. The two brothers sat down next to Selim on the picnic table they had outside, and his mother went back into the house. She said it was too hot for her.

"So, how have you been Selim?" Al asked him. Selim thought a bit, he had wanted to tell Al about his strange dreams, but couldn't when Ed was there. Especially since Ed had been in the dreams. Shrugging, the young boy decided he would wait until the older brother had left.

"Good, you?" He asked. He hoped Al would tell him of some epic journey he had been on since he last visited. He would often tell him amazing stories about Xing and other countries to the east. Al had traveled quite a bit there, studying alchemy and many other things. Smiling, Al shrugged his shoulder like Selim had.

"Not much, no amazing adventure stories to tell you this time, I'm afraid," Al said, and took another sip of his lemonade. Selim just nodded. Ed wasn't saying much, he seemed to be thinking of something, which was fine by him, he would just talk to Al.

"How much longer do you think it'll take you to fix the deck?" Selim asked.

"We'd be done it already if Al would just use alchemy," Ed muttered. Selim frowned a bit. He knew Edward couldn't use alchemy, but what he couldn't understand was why he didn't just learn. His brother obviously had, and Al was always talking about how smart Ed was. Al shushed his brother quickly.

"It'll take a few days," Al told him. Selim just nodded, he knew if he asked why he didn't just use alchemy, he would get the same answer he always did.

"Gah, stupid cat!" Ed yelled suddenly, scaring both Selim and Alphonse. After the shock, Al just shook his head and giggled at his brother, who was trying in vain to get the cat off his lap.

"C'mere Shadow," Selim called, and the old cat walked up to him slowly. He'd had him as long as he could remember, and whenever Ed came over it was always the same. Al said his brother had never liked cats.

"Don't see why they let him have that cat, with that stupid name," Ed was grumbling, although the two other occupants of the table both heard him.

"Ed!" Al yelled, looking rather worried all of a sudden. Selim didn't get it though, but it wasn't entirely unsuspected. People, the same people who seemed afraid and untrusting of his, always appeared surprised at the name of his cat. He didn't get why though, but apparently Ed and Al did.

"Is something wrong with Shadow's name?" He asked. Maybe they would just tell him, and then he would know why soldiers and government officials seemed afraid of a little kid.

"There's nothing wrong with his name, Ed's just being stupid," Al said quickly. Selim could tell he was lying, he was a terrible liar. He didn't press the subject though. He'd just have to wait to find out why people were afraid of him.

Hesitantly his hand went up to the red circle in the middle of his forehead. Everyone said it was a birthmark, but he'd never seen a birthmark like that. People didn't like it when he asked questions though, so he tended not to. He would figure out everything on his own. He didn't believe the people who said there wasn't anything to figure out, even Al.

Sighing, Al stood up. "Well, we better get back to work, right brother?" Ed nodded and stood as well. After a few hours, the brothers stopped again. They'd gotten a lot done, even without alchemy. Selim was impressed. Following the two inside Selim watched as they said farewell to his mother, and promised to be back tomorrow to continue working on the deck.

Going up to his room Selim watched as their car pulled out. Apparently Ed was driving, because they backed out without swerving.

Sitting on his bed the small boy picked up the beat up armor plushy. It was exactly like the armor in his dream, although that armor had been attacking him. Yawning, Selim laid his head down. He hadn't gotten much sleep last night because of said dream, and decided he was going to take a nap. His mother would wake him up for dinner, she always did.

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Well, there you have it. I feel so unoriginal, now three of my stories have dreams as a part of them. Well, more like two, but still. Well, I hope you like this so far. Please review.


	2. Chapter 2

Hello. I hope you've been enjoying this story so far. Sure this is only the second chapter, but still. I probably shouldn't be writing this, as it's 2:06 in the morning, and I am rather tired, so I'll probably end up rereading this in the morning and redo half of it, but when motivation hits motivation hits.

Disclaimer- Don't own FMA

Chapter 2

Edward and Al did return the next day as promised, and for three days after that. Selim watched them work on the deck diligently, even helping a bit himself, handing them tools and such when asked. Over four days time, he was never alone with Al long enough to talk to him about his dreams.

That was another thing with Ed. He didn't seem to like it when the child was left alone with his brother. It bothered Selim greatly, but he didn't ask about it. It was one of the off-limits topics. The ones that made the adults in his life nervous, and would result in quick, clean rehearsed answers that didn't really answer anything, or having the subject changed completely.

Eventually, Selim learned to just live with it, and try and ignore these off-limits topics as best he could. It was hard though, as these ranged from the understandable, his father, to the completely unreasonable, the name of his cat, or when Al had found him sitting outside, banging a trashcan lazily with a stick. Mother had forced him outside after he'd knocked over a side table, lamp, mail, and all. He'd told the older boy the banging sound calmed him down, but couldn't understand the haunted expression on his face, or why Al had taken the stick away from him, gently, but still giving him almost no say in getting in back, and insisting that they go do something else.

The deck was nearly complete now, so today was the last day the Elrics were going to visit. He knew that if he just waited, the next time Al came, it would more likely then not be alone, but he had no idea when next time would be. The blond was almost always traveling, so visits tended to be few and far between.

Selim was contemplating on what his best plan of action would be when Al sat down next to him, looking rather worn out. Looking around, he noticed for the first time that Edward was no longer in the yard. When had he left?

"So, what's wrong?" That took Selim a bit by surprise. He hadn't thought anything had been noticeably wrong with him.

"What do you mean?" The black haired boy suddenly wasn't really sure if he wanted to tell Al yet. Some part of him said that these dreams were off-limits. If something as innocent seeming as using a garbage can as a makeshift drum was, or what he named his cat when he was two, then chances are these were too. Plus, he didn't have them often, maybe he could simply deal with in on his own. He was strong enough. They were just figments of his imagination, anyway.

"You just seemed kind of out of it. Are you alright?" Al did seem generally worried though, maybe he should just tell him. Al was more lineate with the off-limits then most, but something still told him no.

"I'm fine, just didn't get much sleep last night. When do you think you'll be done the deck?" Selim asked, changing the subject, although not so quickly that it seemed suspicious. Al simply smiled and told the young boy that they'd be done by the end of the day.

A few minutes later Ed came back from wherever he'd gone. Probably some useless task Al had asked him to do so that he could have a moment alone with Selim to ask what was the matter.

Sitting on the bench still, watching the brothers work, Selim went over the dream he'd had last night in his head. It was probably for the best that he'd kept it a secrete, it had his father in it after all, and that alone he knew was off-limits.

He wasn't sure where he was or what was going on, but his father was fighting Mr. Roy Mustang, one of the strange men from the military, who seemed scared, well maybe not full on scared, but apprehensive at the least, of him. He'd only ever seen a few pictures of the man who sired him, but he recognized him instantly. He was hurt though, but it didn't look like neither Roy Mustang nor his father was winning.

Suddenly, his father had managed to pin Mr. Mustang to the ground, a sword stabbed through each hand. That was when the creepy shadows that seemed to infiltrate all his dreams began to move. They wrapped around Mr. Mustang, and seemed to collect around him in the form of a transmutation circle. He had no idea what it did, but it looked complicated as anything.

"Wrath, move!" He had been the one to shout, but he wasn't sure who he was talking to. Never the less, his father had jumped out of the circle. Before anything else could happen though, and he could figure out why Mr. Mustang was fighting his father or anything, he'd woken up, wide eyed and scared.

Shaking his head, Selim decided to just ignore it again. They were crazy dreams that would go away if he just stopped thinking about them.

He wasn't sure how much longer it was before Al announced the completion of the deck. Walking along it excitedly, Selim was very glad to see that it didn't collapse under him, or even creak and make other strange noises like the old one had. His mother also seemed very relieved, and left to get the brother's pay. Al had said that wasn't necessary, but Al said almost everything that would be beneficial to him wasn't necessary, so he was just ignored, and his mother left anyway.

"Thank you!" Selim said again, before frowning slightly. "So, you guys probably wont come back over for a while, huh?" He knew it was almost a given, with how the brothers loved to travel, and not to mention that their normal home was in Resembool, but that didn't mean that they sometimes would spend a longer then normal amount of time in Central, which was close enough that making a day trip to his house was easy. They had a lot of friends who lived here, lots of people in the military it seemed, and would stay with some of them for a while. Al shook his head sadly though.

"Not for a while no. We're heading back to Resembool tomorrow morning," Selim nodded, it wasn't like that was unexpected. The younger of the two brothers smiled though, like he'd suddenly gotten a brilliant idea that would fix everything.

"Maybe you could visit us there sometime. You've never been out east, have you?" Al suggested. Selim's face light up almost instantly. He already loved the idea.

"I've never been anywhere," It was true. The only place besides his little hometown he'd ever visited was Central, and that was only on one or two occasions. He could see Edward frowning behind his brother, of course he didn't like the idea, but Selim chose to just ignore him, like the dreams. Maybe if he pretended he wasn't there, he'd go away after a while. Before either brother had the chance to speak up either for or agents the idea, his mother walked back onto the deck.

"Mother, mother, mother! Can I go to Resembool? Please, please, please, please!" Selim asked hyperly. He wasn't even sure if she understood a word he said, because she just turned to the Elrics with a confused look on her face. Of course, she could of understood him completely, and still of done the same exact thing. Al shrugged and gave the old woman a small smile.

"He seemed sad that we were going to leave, so I said he could come and visit us in Resembool some time," the blonde explained. Mrs. Bradley nodded, now understanding the situation much more. Looking back towards her son's hopeful face, she sighed.

"Alright, but only when Edward or Alphonse say it's okay. Now might not be the best time," Mrs. Bradley said, and Selim nodded quicker then Al thought was possible for a human neck, and then turned back towards the brothers.

"Can I come with you? I promise I wont be any trouble!" Al looked over to his brother before turning back to Selim.

"Let me and Ed talk a little first, okay?" Selim nodded and went inside before they could say another word.

Sitting at the dining room table, the black haired boy pet his cat absently. He wished he could know what they were saying. He knew Ed didn't want him to come, but he could just stay at Al's house. He would miss Shadow though, but maybe this is what he needed, to get his mind off of those crazy dreams. Shadow picked her head up and stared at him lazily.

"Maybe if I do go I can take you. Al likes cats," He said, scratching the top of the felines head. It in turn rubbed his hand affectionately. Just then Al stepped in through the sliding door and smiled at him. Selim looked up at the young adult, waiting for his answer.

"Well? What are you sitting there for? We're leaving tomorrow, shouldn't you be packing?" Al asked happily. Selim's face broke into a smile, and he jumped off his chair to go hug the blonde.

"Thank you thank you thank you! I promise I'll be good!" He said happily before running off to his room. Once there he wasn't really sure what to pack. Clothes and stuff, he guessed. He'd never been anywhere before. This was going to be so fun! He wondered how Al had managed to convince his brother to let him come. He knew it wasn't the easiest thing to do, he just didn't know why.

After a while the young boy heard the front door open and clothes. Edward and Al must of left to wherever they've been staying. He didn't worry though, they would come and pick him up in the morning. Al had never lied to him before.

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Second chapter up. Yay. Hey, has anyone got any info on that brotherhood movie? I hear it's not going to be live-action, but nothing else. I hope it's good, and I hope Selim is in it. He was so cute on the last episode. Okay, I'll stop now before I go full on rant mode.

Well, Please review.


	3. Chapter 3

Man it took a long time to get this chapter out. Sorry about that, I'll try to be more on time from now on. Computer broke, couldn't update anything for like a month, you know the drill. Hope this chapter is satisfying.

Disclaimer- Don't own Full Metal Alchemist

Chapter 3

Selim woke up extremely early the next morning, super excited for the day and very glad for the lack of nightmares. It was only seven am though, so he knew the his mother wouldn't be up and that Al wouldn't be here yet, so he decided to try and amuse himself in his room for at least an hour before he went downstairs. That was a rather difficult task though when the only thing he wanted was for the time to hurry up and pass so he could leave.

Finally, after skimming through three books, messing with the toys on his shelf, waking up shadow, organizing his bookshelf and then unorganizing it again, exactly one hour past and he almost bounced down the stares.

His mother still wasn't up, but she probably would be soon, and in the meantime he could try and make himself some breakfast. Now, Selim had never actually tried to cook before, but he'd watched his mother do it plenty of times, and it didn't look that hard. Plus, for the first time since he woke up, he realized he was hungry. He must have been too excited and busy trying to occupy himself to notice before.

Taking some bread out of the bread loaf bag thing, the black haired boy decided to make some toast. People always said that was really easy, and he didn't want to start out with anything too hard. Putting four pieces in the toaster, he pushed down the button thing and went over to the fridge to poor himself a drink. He'd managed to before without spilling anything, and was very careful to do it the same exact way as then. Putting the lid back onto the orange juice, the toast popped up, startling him a bit. He decided to just eat it without butter. He didn't like it that much anyway, and couldn't find any knives in the first place.

Eating his breakfast he began hearing the noises that signaled his mother waking up. He was usually up before her, but stayed in his room until she was awake. Hearing her come down the stares, he wondered if she would be proud of him for making breakfast all by himself this morning. It just dawned on his that this would be the first time he was ever away from her, and suddenly wasn't very sure if he wanted to go.

"Mother! I made myself breakfast!" the young boy said excitedly, not letting any of his sudden indecision about leaving show on his face. Mrs. Bradley smiled warmly at her son, and complimented him on what a good job he'd done. That made Selim's face light up like a light, he always loved getting compliments from her.

"So dear, are you excited about visiting Risembool? Mr. Alphonse and I talked yesterday after you went upstairs, he said you could stay for two weeks, although if you want to come home before that it'd be perfectly fine. How does that sound?" His mother asked. He knew that the part about coming home before then was probably Al trying to keep his mother from worrying, but it helped him too. He could do two weeks. It would be fun, and if Ed really wanted him to leave or something, then he would. It wouldn't be because he was homesick though. No, it would be fun.

"That sounds great mother! When will Mr. Al get here? What time does the train leave?" He asked hyperly. His mother laughed slightly before answering.

"What time is it, eight? He'll be here in about an hours. The train leaves at ten thirty, so why don't you go make yourself presentable," She told him, and the black haired boy nodded happily before running off to his room to do as she said.

An hour before he could leave. His earlier uneasiness about the trip forgotten in his excitement, he quickly put on a blue short sleeved collard shirt, tan shorts, and a simple dark blue hat. Almost all of his clothes had collared and were generally 'nice,' he didn't have that many play clothes, not that he minded.

After he got dressed he went through his suitcase again. Nothing seemed to be missing, his mother made sure of that. Shadow was asleep on the bed, so Selim sat down next to the old cat and pulled her into his lap. He wondered if cats were allowed on trains.

After sixty minutes of pacing around the house, Selim heard a knock on the front door and ran to open it. He could hear his mother coming from whatever part of the house she was in, but he got there long before her. Opening the door, he saw Al smiling down at him, hands in his pockets.

"Hey there, are you ready to go?" The older man asked kindly. Selim nodded before opening the door wider to let him inside. His mother walked in at that time and greeted Alphonse kindly. "Why don't you go get everything you need while your mother and I get everything situated," The young adult suggested, and Selim nearly flew up the stairs in reply.

Looking at the two luggage holders in his room, the black haired child tried to think of a way to bring both down at the same time. Maybe he could put the duffle bag on top of the suitcase, but when ever he tried to move it the bag made a habit of falling off. Frowning in annoyance, he lifted the bag in his arms. He'd just take them down one at a time if it was going to be like that. Walking down the stairs bag in hand, he stopped upon hearing his mother's voice. He knew it was wrong to ease drop, but with everybody in his life always being so tightlipped, it was the only choice sometimes if he was going to learn anything.

"Are you sure this is a good idea? What if something happens and he-" his mother started, but Al cut her off before she could finish her sentence.

"Nothing will happen, I promise. It's not good for him to be locked up all the time. Now, I'm not saying we should just give him free range and then act surprised when something does happen, but that if we shelter him too much, it might have the same effect," Mr. Alphonse told his mother. There was no doubt in his mind that they were talking about him, he just wondered for how long he should hide.

"I guess you're right, but please keep a good eye on him. If anything happens…" Mrs. Bradley trailed off, and Selim wished he knew what they were talking about. It didn't sound good in the least.

"I know, don't worry, I wont let anything happen as much as you would. He's grown on me, you know? If anything were to happen, I'll protect him until there was no other option, and hey, it's only two weeks! Who said anything will happen, it'll probably be just a fun vacation for him, nothing else," Al said that last part happily, changing the tone of the conversation from one of worried anticipation to calm happiness. Selim could hear his mother sigh from behind the staircase.

"I suppose that's true. Now, he should be down soon, oh, here he is," His mother said happily, turning towards her son as he stepped into the room. He made sure to force a smile onto his face before walking in with the bag. He wasn't suppose to hear what he just had, and was silently thanking whatever god there was that he was such a good actor.

"I could only bring one down at a time," He said quickly before running back towards the stairs to grab the other suitcase with the excitement from before dulled down quite a bit. Dragging the suitcase down the stairs he tried to ignore the banging it made when it hit each step. Soon he was at the bottom and smiling to the two happy looking adults in front of him. It dawned on the black haired boy that he wasn't the only one good at acting, and it bothered him. Why were two of the people he trusted the most in his life hiding stuff from him now?

"When can we go? Can I bring shadow?" Selim asked cheerfully, trying to push back any more suspicious thoughts. This was suppose to be a fun trip.

"Well, I don't think you can take shadow this time, but I'm sure your mother will take good care of her while you're gone. And we can leave as soon as you're ready, so if you just want to say goodbye to your mom and shadow then we can be off," Al said happily. The black haired boy was a bit disappointed that he couldn't bring his ever present cat, but turned excitedly towards his mother anyway and gave her a hug.

"Goodbye mother I promise I'll be good! Please take care of shadow and make sure she has food and doesn't get lonely without me!" He said quickly and his mother gave another one of her laughs and hugged him back.

"Alright sweetie, make sure you listen to whatever Mr. Alphonse tells you and don't get into any trouble," She told him kindly and Selim nodded before picking up his cat and telling it basically the same thing his mother just finished telling him.

Once the goodbyes were finished Al promised once again that he would take good care of Selim, and the two headed out the door. They were walking to the train station, which didn't surprise the young boy in the least. His mother wouldn't of been so willing to let him go if Al had been going to drive him. For someone amazing at so many complicated things, it was almost funny at how something that most people picked up so easily eluded him.

On the way to the station Selim asked endless questions about Risembool. Sure, he'd heard about the small town in the east all his life, but that didn't mean he didn't want to know more. Not to mention he didn't want to seem suspicious, especially since his mind was actually elsewhere at the moment. Al didn't seem to notice anything though, answering his questions with almost as much excitement as he had in asking them.

When the train station came into view he was almost bouncing with excitement, not all of it faked. Sure, what he's heard earlier was a bit unnerving, but that didn't change the fact that this was his first time traveling anywhere far.

The two got onto the train after handing the conductor man or who ever it was their tickets. (Ed had left earlier that morning on a different train, Al having stayed behind to escort Selim.) The black haired boy sat across from Alphonse and stared out the window as the train began to move. Slowly at first, but quickly picking up speed. He couldn't keep the smile off his face as the thoughts of his overheard conversation faded into the background like the quickly passing trees.

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And that's it for chapter three. Things will start picking up hopefully next chapter.

Well, to anyone who's read this far, please review.


	4. Chapter 4

Hello all. It seems time for another update.

Disclaimer- Don't own FMA

Chapter 4

Selim couldn't remember falling asleep, but Al attempting to wake him up spoke otherwise.

"Huh? Wha…?" He asked groggily, looking around in confusion. Al was standing in front of him, chuckling to himself, and the train wasn't moving anymore.

"It's time to wake up, sleepyhead, we're here," the blonde explained, Selim was almost instantly to his feet. Looking out the window, it wasn't anything like the towns or cities he was used to. There was green everywhere, and it seemed to stretch forever. The sky was the same way, only with blue, the few clouds doing almost nothing to distract from the length of it.

"Whoa…" he mumbled to himself, causing Al to chuckle again.

"Sure is different from the city, huh?" the young adult asked, and Selim nodded excitedly. Moving away from the window, the two headed off of the train. The black haired boy stayed close to Alphonse, getting a bit nervous now that he was actually there. "We'll go to my house first so you can unpack your things, and then maybe we can go visit Ed, or I'll show you around town or something, how does that sound?" Al asked, and Selim agreed quickly. Sure, he didn't really want to visit Mr. Edward, but seeing the town did seem like fun, even if there didn't really look like there was much to see.

The house wasn't small, although it wasn't very big either. It had a little deck in the front and a bunch of windows. Al had pointed out that you could see his brother's house a little down the way. Selim had to admit that the other house looked nice, from a distance, at least. It was yellow, and looked a bit bigger then Mr. Al's. There was also a sigh out front, although the black haired boy couldn't read it from this distance.

The inside of the young adult's house was just as nice as the outside. Everything was pleasantly colored and inviting. Selim couldn't help but be distracted by all the little nicnacs and other items that Alphonse had picked up whenever he traveled east.

He was poking at one of these, a little glass cat, when the blond man started to move him along again.

"C'mon now, you can stay in the spare room. It's not as big as your room back home, but I think you'll like it," He said, heading down a hallway, and Selim ran to catch up. Despite the house not being that big, he didn't want to get lost.

"I don't mind if it's not big, I already like it here," that was true. His nervousness was already starting to fade and it was just starting to dawn on his that he entire time he was here there would be no guards. This would be the longest time in his life he'd go without the looming figures and he would definitely enjoy it.

The spare room was a lot like the rest of the house, inviting and bright, just like it's owner. The bed was a little big for him, but so was his bed at home, and although it was smaller then his room back home like Al said, he didn't care.

"Thank you for letting me stay here, Mr. Alphonse!" the black haired boy said, putting the bag he was carrying down on the bed. The older man smiled and shook his head.

"It's no problem, I'm glad to have you," just as he had finished saying that came a knock at the door. "Oh, that's probably Ed coming to see if we made it okay. I'll be right back," Selim nodded and the blond left the room.

Taking his clothes out of the bags and placing them into the drawer, the boy began to unpack. It didn't really take that long, but he made sure everything was nice and neat. He wasn't looking forward to going out and seeing Mr. Ed all that much. It was strange. While he'd never once actually yelled at him, and he did try to play nice a few times, there was still this underlying unease.

Closing the drawer with a sigh, he couldn't hide forever. Maybe Mr. Edward just wasn't very good with kids. It seemed he wasn't good with animals, with the way he acted around Shadow and everything.

"-an't shake the feeling you invited the enemy into your house," oh no, here it was again. He really, really shouldn't be ease dropping, but it was so hard when the people said such strange things.

"He's a good kid now Ed and you know that," Now? What did he mean by now? Wasn't he always a good kid? Shaking his head, Selim couldn't come out anymore, not if he was ever going to have his questions answered.

"I know, I know! It's just old feelings coming up," Ed said, and after that it was quiet. The black haired boy considered coming out, but right before he was about to, Al began to speak again.

"I think he's afraid of you Ed," Selim froze. He'd never actually told the younger brother he had problems with the golden eyed man, but then again Al was excellent at reading people it seemed. He'd have to get better at acting if he was going to fool him.

"What do you mean? I never did anything to him. Well, sure there were those things back then, but he shouldn't remember that, and if he did I don't think it would be fear he was feeling," Ed said, a very confused tone to his voice. He could hear Al sigh. It wasn't exactly one of frustration, Selim wasn't quite sure what it was.

"It's not something you did, it's those old feelings. Kid's are able to tell when something's up, and I think it's the way you are always hesitant and are closed around him that's making him scared," the younger brother explained, and the black haired boy wished he could go out and see what the two looked like, and what these old feelings they kept talking about were. What didn't he remember?

"Yeah, I guess you're right. Dang Al, when'd you become the expert on kids?" Ed asked jokingly. Selim had to hold back a sigh, he probably wouldn't be finding out what they meant now.

"What do you mean, I've always been an expert. Now, I should probably go see if he's okay. He's been in there a while," Selim quickly ran back to the spare room, careful not to make any noise, and pretended to be zippering up the suitcase when Al walked in. He didn't seem to suspect anything as he smiled down at the black haired boy.

"Hey there, finished unpacking?" He asked kindly, and Selim nodded smiling.

"Yep, is Mr. Edward still here?" he knew the answer, of course, but it would be less suspicious if he asked. Although maybe that wasn't the best subject, seeing as Al already thought he was afraid of the older man. If that was true though, he didn't let on any, just nodding happily.

"He is, want to go see him?" He asked, and Selim said sure. Walking back down the hallway he'd just ran down, the black eyed boy tried to keep the thoughts of the now numbering two overheard conversations from takeing over his mind. It'd be obvious something was wrong with him, and he didn't want to lie, but he couldn't tell them what he'd over heard either. It'd be best if they thought everything to be fine.

"Hey kid," Ed said casually when the two walked in. It was obvious he was trying his brother's advise. He'd usually greet him with something like, hello Selim, or some other formal thing. He tried to blame it on who his dad was, or some other social stance thing like that, but couldn't for some reason. It was some old feeling, like the brother's had been talking about.

"Hello," he said back, trying his best not to hide behind Mr. Alphonse. What had the older brother done to him that he couldn't remember? A million different scenarios ran though his head, none of them good and at least two involving witch craft.

"So, how do you like Resembool so far?" Ed asked as Al gently pushed him into the room and had him sit in a chair. Apparently they were going to talk for a while.

"It's really nice… clean…" yeah, that was a good way to describe it. It was a lot cleaner then the city or even bordering neighborhood he lived in. Ed laughed, just a tiny bit forced, and agreed.

"Yeah, it doesn't have any of the dust and fumes you find in cities, huh," Selim nodded, not really sure what to say. It felt wrong to talk to Mr. Edward all friendly. Ed didn't seem to notice though, although he probably felt the same way. Whatever these old feeling were, and whatever he'd done to the boy, wasn't apparently a good thing. Or maybe it was whatever Selim had done to him. After all, he did say it felt like inviting an enemy into his house.

"Well, it's getting kind of late, I promised Winry I wouldn't be gone long," Ed said, standing up and stretching a bit. Al nodded and stood as well.

"Maybe we could come over tomorrow or something, I'm sure Selim would like to meet your kids. They're about his age, right?" the younger of the two suggested. Selim saw the flicker of uncertainty go across his face before Ed answered.

"Yeah, I'll talk to Winry about it. Well, see ya," He said before waving slightly and heading out the door. The black haired boy decided to pretend to occupy himself by looking at photos on a table while Al watched his brother leave the yard.

"So, who's hungry?" The blonde man asked as he turned away from the window, a joyful expression once again on his face. Selim nodded, not turning fully away from the pictures on the table. "Good, I'll go make us something to eat. You look around, amuse yourself. I'm sure their's something here that'll be able to do that," Al said, heading to what the boy assumed was the kitchen. He didn't need to ask him what he liked, the young adult had watched him enough times to already know. "After we're done, we can go look around Resembool like I said before," Al called from the other room.

"Okay," The black haired boy called back, walking around the living room slowly, trying to take everything in. There was, of course, a bunch of things he'd never seen before. Stopping at another side table, he saw it also had pictures on it. These were much older though. The ones he'd been looking at before, although not too recent, were of things like, Mr. Edwards wedding, an old family portrait from after they had kids, a picture of that May lady that Al always visited I n Xing and vise versa.

These were from when Mr. Alphonse had been a kid though. The oldest was worn, kind of dirty and it looked like it'd even been burnt a little on the edges. It was a family portrait, he guessed. The two kids were probably Mr. Ed and Mr. Al. The older was definitely Mr. Ed, anyway, they had the same exact eyes. The man, Hoenheim, he think Al said his dad's name was, was crying for some reason, but the mother looked happy. She was pretty too, real nice looking.

That was the only picture with the crying man though, although the mother was in a few more. The newer pictures still had Mr. Edward in them, wearing a bright red coat and looking just like in his dreams, which was very unnerving, although Al wasn't in them at all. The next time he showed up, it was when he was maybe seventeen or eighteen. There wasn't really many pictures from in between actually, but he still wasn't there. Who was their though was the armor. The same one from his nightmares and the same one that Mr. Al must of modeled the stuffed animal after.

"Mr. Al," He called, still staring at the pictures. It was worth a shot to ask. Nothing wrong with talking about old photos, normal kids did that all the time.

"Yes, something wrong?" He asked, sticking his head through the doorway. He was holding a whisk, and Selim just noticed that something smelt pretty good. That was another thing he'd like about staying here. Not that his mother wasn't a great cook, but Mr. Al's food was amazing.

"No, I was just looking at these pictures," He answered, and the blonde came father into the room, staring at the photos from over his shoulder. "Why do you disappear?" might as well get straight to the point.

"What do you mean? I don't disappear," Al said, still looking over the old photos. Selim shook his head though, and pointed at the ones with the armor man.

"After you turn like ten or something there isn't any more photos of you until you're eighteen, but there's pictures of Mr. Edward," He explained. Al made a soft, oh sound, and seemed to be trying to think of a way to explain it to him.

"Well, you see, around that time we were traveling quite a bit, even more then we are now a days, so we didn't get many pictures taken to begin with, I must have just not been there when these were taken, I'm sure there's some with me around here somewhere," the older man explained. Selim frowned though, and didn't stop staring at the old snapshots. It was now or never. He might actually get an answer to one of the mysteries of his dreams.

"Who's Mr. Armor?" He heard Al try to stifle a gasps, and wasn't too surprised. He knew it was something strange. Something he wasn't suppose to know. The young adult quickly recovered though and answered.

"Just an old friend," he said, although that didn't really answer his question at all.

"Where's he now?" he pressed a bit, but trying to come off as nothing more then childish curiosity.

"Gone. But that's nothing for you to worry about. C'mon, why don't you help me finish the food, that'll be fun, right?" Al suggested, already leading his away from the photos. He couldn't help but glance back at them as he walked away though.

Al said that the Mr. Armored Man was gone, but usually when people say an old friend is gone, they sound sad. Especially since gone usually meant dead. He'd sounded almost happy though, it was very strange.

"Right…" He said absently, and decided to try not to thing too much about it as the two cooked. He'd figure it out. It was starting to feel like a puzzle, and he'd always been good at puzzles.

* * *

There you have it everybody. By the by, I'll be using the English name May for Mei Chang, just because there's a smaller chance that I'll accidentally misspell it. Also, Ed and Winry's kids should be coming in the next chapter. Ah, I'm scared, I don't want to butcher them. Any-who, please review. Hey, that rhythms…


	5. Chapter 5

Hello. Sorry for the little bit of a wait on this chapter. I was sick at home today, so decided I should knock this out, because I have nothing better to do.

Chapter 5

After they had finished eating, Al showed the younger boy around his hometown. Selim couldn't help but be fascinated with everything he saw. There were sheep and all kinds of plants he'd never saw at home, especially in Mr. Al's garden. The black haired boy was amazed with everything that had been brought from various eastern countries, as well as some things from the west, given to the older man by his brother. He decided to just try to forget about what he heard and that he had to go to Mr. Ed's tomorrow for the time being, and just enjoy his stay.

"Mr. Al, when I grow up can I travel all around like you and Mr. Ed?" He asked. They had just returned from walking around the town a bit and Selim was crouching in front of one of the strange flowers he'd seen before they left. Mr. Alphonse had called it a Venus flytrap, and he couldn't get over the strange shape of the petals. They looked like tiny mouths.

"If you want to," the blond man said, although Selim picked up the hesitation with ease, but chose to ignore it for now as well. He was here, wasn't he? That was at least a little proof that things were starting to ease up a little bit, whatever those things were. Standing up, he followed Al back into the house. It was getting late, although he wasn't really that tired yet.

Al had him help cook dinner, which was rather fun, although Selim couldn't help but get the feeling that it was to keep him from wondering the house and picking up questions again. Maybe he was being paranoid, but he was pretty sure there was something more to it then that. Instead of actually asking about it though he simply asked a lot of questions about the town, and if it was the same as when he grew up here, and if they were going to see Mr. Ed tomorrow, and what his children were like.

Mr. Al answered all these questions with ease, and the black haired boy was almost able to convince himself that there wasn't anything strange going on about him, until the phone rang.

"Oh shoot! We we're supposed to call your mother when we got here, weren't we? That's probably her," The blonde man said, standing up from the table quickly and rushing over to the telephone. Selim followed at a slightly slower pace, still not quite used to the layout of this home yet and not wanting to trip or bump into anything.

"Hello, Mrs.- Oh, Ed, I thought you were Mrs. Bradley," Al said, and Selim slowed a bit more. If it was Mr. Edward then there was a good chance he wouldn't actually have to talk to him like if it was his mother. They would probably call her right after though, now that the older man had remembered.

"Yeah, we still need to call her," He said into the receiver, and Selim sat down on a chair nearby. "No, I forgot…. What she say?… Oh that's good… No nothing strange.. Ed I told you, it's fine, nothing will happen…but I though…Oh, that makes sense… Ed, he's ten… Okay, okay… right, see you tomorrow, bye," Al said, and hung up the phone before letting out a sigh. The feeling of unnerve came back rather quickly to the small boy. He hated only hearing one side of a conversation.

"What Mr. Edward say?" He asked innocently, not entirely convinced he was going to get a straight or detailed answer.

"He was just seeing if we were coming over tomorrow for sure, now we should definitely call your mother," Selim just nodded as Al punched in the numbers. There was no way for him to pry without looking suspicious, and having everyone get even more tightlipped then they already were.

"Hello, Mrs. Bradley?" The blonde asked into the phone, and Selim stood up, "Yes, I'm so sorry, we forgot to call… Yeah, we got here a few hours ago… He's fine, want to talk to him?" Al glanced at him before handing over the phone.

"Mom?" The black haired boy asked into the phone. Now that he thought about it, he did miss her already.

"Oh Selim dear, how's everything been so far? How was the train ride? Do you like Resembool so far?" She asked, and the little boy was glad to hear her voice again. So it had been less then one day, it was still the longest he'd been away from home.

"Good! The train was fun, but I feel asleep, and Resembool is really nice. There's animals all over and it's really big and green," He explained. His mother was probably the only person he was really open with, although Al was a close second, especially on a good day. To be fair though, they were the only adults who were as close to open as it got with him, and he didn't know many other children.

They talked for a while longer, Selim telling in detail everything he saw when they walked around the town and all of the interesting trinkets and plants Mr. Al had from out east. When he finally gave the phone back to the young adult he was starting to feel a bit tired, and Al said goodbye to the older women a few moments later, right when Selim had begun to yawn.

"Look's like someone's tired after a long day, we should probably get off to bed soon," The blonde said as he turned towards him. Selim nodded slightly. He wasn't one of those kids to demand to stay up later then he could handle, and it had been a long day. "Alright, why don't you go get changed then?" Al suggested, and the black haired boy went into his room to do just that. Glancing at a clock, it was only eight thirty, but he had been up since seven in the morning.

"Can I come in?" Al called after he had finished dressing. He had started to nod, only to remember that the blonde man couldn't actually see him through the door.

"Yes," He said, and the door opened.

"Hey there, I was just coming to make sure you had everything in order," Al explained, and Selim nodded. "You wont be scared by yourself, will you?" He asked. Selim frowned slightly, he wouldn't be scared. He had always slept along back home, even with those scary dreams, and Resembool was nice, there was nothing to be afraid of.

"No, I'm fine," He said, although for some reason he was slightly less sure of this then before. Al simply smiled and nodded at him though.

"Alright, but if you get scared, my room's right down the hall," He said, before turning to leave the room, but stopped before he actually did. "We're going to Ed's house tomorrow, so get plenty of rest," the blond said, flashing him a smile. Selim nodded and gave a much more tentative smile back.

"Okay, I will," He said before Al had shut the door. Getting a few last things situated, he crawled into bed and shut off the light. It was really dark in Resembool. He remembered that they didn't have all the artificial lights shining in from outside here. He wouldn't get scared though, there wasn't anything scary about the darkness.

He quickly had to block out the image of a lion-like man emerging from the shadows with clear intent to kill. He had to sleep. He was exhausted, and he had to be well rested if he was going over to Mr. Edward's in the morning. If he was tired, he might not be able to keep up as good of an act as he would of wanted.

When he awoke the next morning, it was brighter then he was used to. That sure was strange. Not only was it darker in the country at night, but brighter during the day. Weird.

"Good morning, did you sleep well your first night?" Al asked as he stepped into the kitchen. It smelt amazing, eggs and sausages and toast, and best of all, no coffee. Mr. Al never drank coffee, so he never smelt like it unless he had been with someone who'd been drinking it. The black haired boy hated that smell, and didn't get how some people could drink though the smell, let alone love it. Mr. Ed, on the other hand, was one of those people. He smelt like it almost every other time Selim saw him.

"Yes, it's really quiet at night though," He said, sitting down at the table. That was another thing he'd notice about it at night. He could hear every cricket and leaf outside. Al laughed a bit and nodded in agreement.

"Yeah, it can get pretty quiet way out here," Al said, and began placing some food on a plate in front of the small boy. "Well, eat up, then I'll call Ed and see when he wants us over. You'll like his kids, they're only a few years younger then you," Al explained, even though he'd already said the same thing last night. Selim just nodded, food already in his mouth.

After they were finished Al did just as he said and called the golden eyed man. They hadn't talked very long, and it basically boiled down to why not come right now? The blonde told him to go and get dressed, which he did. Putting on a grey collared shirt and brown shorts and shoes, he went to go tell Mr. Al he was ready.

"Should we go now?" He asked, and Al nodded, ushering him out the door and down the street towards his brother's bight yellow house, talking animatedly the whole time. Selim only half listened though, messing around with his bangs a bit to make sure they covered his forehead. New people tended to stare, and he'd grown out his bangs just long enough to keep from this. His mother had suggested getting a headband if it bothered him, but he said no. It just wasn't really his style.

The house was very close now, and Selim had to hold back a gulp. He was always nervous about new people, especially other kids. Not to mention these were Mr. Ed's kids, what if they didn't like him as much as their father? Al said several times that it would be fine though, so maybe he should listen. After all, there wasn't any reason for them to not like him, as much as there was reason for him to dislike them. Plus, Mr. Ed was trying to be better, so maybe this wouldn't go so bad.

* * *

Tadaa! I know it was a pretty long wait, and I know I said that Ed's kid's would be introduced in this chapter, but I'm just not quite sure how I want to put them in here yet.

Should I make them semi-main characters or not? Tell me what you think. Your opinion is appreciated here. Hehe, well, please review.


	6. Chapter 6

Heheheh, I'm back. Sorry for the little hiatus from fan fiction I'd taken. I didn't even mean to, it just kind of happened. I'm back now though, and hopefully I'll have be able to put aside enough time from school to keep at a relatively normal pace. I'd just like to say thanks to everyone who's waited this long so patiently and here is the next, extremely overdue chapter.

On a side note, you have absolutely no idea how hard it was to think of names for Ed and Winry's kids! I didn't know if I wanted to go all 'symbolically naming it after dead people' or just 'random names I think sound good and fit in with the overall feel of FMA' or what. I ended up looking up the 100 most popular names in England and Wales from 2009 and 2006 (don't ask why those years, it's just what I clicked) and did a half and half I guess. Tell me if you like them, because that was seriously the hardest decision I have had to make with this story yet.

Chapter 6

Selim stood behind Alphonse as he knocked on the door of the bright yellow house. It really was a nice house, he was probably being silly for being so scared. After all, just because Mr. Edward acted strange around him, his brother wasn't like him, so why would the rest of the family be like that?

The reassurance he'd managed to build up was quickly evaporated as the sound of near vicious barking emanated from the house, coupled with a woman yelling. Without thinking the young boy started clinging to Alphonse's legs. The blonde man turned to attempt to comfort him, but hadn't managed to get any words out before the door opened, commanding both their attentions, abet Selim's cautiously, just poking out from behind his makeshift hiding place.

"Bad dog! Bad! Shoo!" A tall woman with long blond hair tied up in a messy ponytail yelled as she attempted to keep said dog from running outside. Selim had seen Mrs. Elric a few times and, while she was a very pretty woman, she, like her husband, could be kind of scary. He had forgotten about that.

Having pushed the dog far enough away to temporarily solve the problem, she turned to address the two people in front of her. "Hey Al, sorry about Mupples, she's not usually like this," Mrs. Elric apologized, and Alphonse nodded in response.

"That's fine, how are you doing?" the blond asked as Winry ushered them inside, trying to keep the dog as far back as possible the entire time. It wasn't too big, but it still managed to reach up to Selim's chest, and he wasn't going anywhere near it if he had any say in the matter.

"I'm fine, you? Ethan, Sarah, get down here!" the blond woman yelled up towards the stairs. Selim flinched slightly, not expecting her ability to change her tone from normal conversation to demanding yell so fast.

"Comin' mom!" a boy's voice called from the floor above. The black haired boy guessed that was Ethan. Mr. Al had said he was the older of the two Elric siblings, although still a few years younger then Selim. Hearing footsteps coming down the stairs, curiosity started to get the better of him, and he peaked out from behind his human hiding place.

The boy was in front, and Selim had to admit he looked incredibly like his father, although he had his mother's blue eyes. Even though both parents were blonde, he had the darker gold shade of Mr. Edward, while his sister behind him had the lighter hair more similar to their mother. She seemed to have inherited her father's golden eyes though.

Having taken a good enough look at the two by his standards combined with their rapid approach, Selim quickly moved back behind Alphonse. He wasn't scared or anything, he just… Okay, he couldn't think of an excuse, but he wasn't good with other kids. He never got any chances to practice.

"Hey there, well, haven't you two grown since I last saw you," Al said happily, greeting the children.

"You got that right Uncle Al, I'm already waaay taller then dad was at my age! Mom told me so!" Ethan said, gesturing with his arms in order to prove his point. Al chuckled at this before nodding.

"She wasn't lying, either. Where is Ed anyway?" the blonde man asked.

"Oh, he's in the backyard setting up a new doghouse for Mupples. The last one collapsed in the storm. I'll go tell him you're here. Ethan, Sarah, stay here and introduce yourself to Selim," Winry commanded before leaving to fetch her husband. The two children gave an automatic 'yes mom' as she left the room, before turning to their uncle.

"Where's da boy dad said you brought?" Sarah asked, looking around for him. She was pretty small. If Selim remembered correctly then Mr. Al had said she was five? Yeah, that was right. The younger was five and the older was eight. He looked a bit older then eight though, already the same height as Selim. Of course, the black haired boy was a bit small for his age himself.

"Right here," Al said, chuckling a bit as he gently pushed the shy boy out from behind his leg. Selim managed a small wave, trying not to appear rude, but afraid that he'd end up being too formal or say something stupid if he tried to say hello and introduce himself properly. The two seemed rather excited to meet him none the less.

"Hey, I'm Ethan! And you're that kid right? The one that lives near Central with the cat Dad really doesn't like?" the blue eyed boy asked happily. All Selim could do was nod for a moment as he let the question sink in a bit. Yeah, that was definitely him, he guessed.

"My names Selim, I'm staying with Mr. Al for the next few weeks," the black hair boy introduced himself, very proud that he was able to keep from stuttering or anything.

"Uncle Al's really nice, dat sounds like fun," Sarah said, looking him up and down. The staring was staring to unnerve him just a little bit, so he nodded, taking a step closer towards Mr. Alphonse. He wasn't going to hide, at least, not fully, anyway.

Before anymore small talk could be made Winry came back into the room with Edward in tow. He flashed them a smile before sitting down on the couch, the other adults in the room and Sarah quickly following his example. Selim felt more comfortable standing back a bit though, and he guessed Ethan did as well. He was a bit glad for that, it would of felt awkward being the only one standing.

"Sorry 'bout that, didn't realize you were already here," Ed said, and Al quickly dismissed it. After that the adults started talking, and Selim zoned out pretty quickly. Mr. Ed's house was pretty nice, despite how nervous he felt and the smell of grease and metal that seemed to hang in the air. The sigh he'd seen the other day had read Rockbell Automail, and he remembered that Mrs. Elric was an automail mechanic, so that would explain the smell.

"Hey dad," Ethan's voice broke Selim's train of thought. The adults turned towards the blond boy before he continued. "Can I take Selim up to my room?" That caught him by surprise. What did he want to do up in his room? And was this confusion normal for kids to feel anyway, or was he just that much of a social newbie?

Selim clearly saw Mr. Elric's hesitation before he finally answered his son, and he was pretty sure Ethan could see it too. Finally the man answered. "Fine, but you two be careful!" He called as the blonde boy ran out of the room, dragging a very surprised Selim behind him. He thought they might ask them to bring Ethan's little sister along, but glancing back quickly before everyone was totally out of sight, he saw that she was asleep in her mother's lap. How long had he zoned out for?

It wasn't until they were upstairs in the blonde boy's room before he let go of his arm. Selim rubbed it slightly. He had not expected to be dragged like that, it kind of hurt. Ethan didn't seem to notice though, looking at the boy in front of him excitedly.

"So you're Selim right? Nice ta meetcha, I'd introduce myself, but I already did," Selim just nodded at the energetic boy. He wasn't all that good at small talk. "So, how do you like Resembool so far?" Ethan asked, and the black haired boy was rather grateful for the answerable question.

"It's nice. Very different from the city. Have you ever been to the city?" he asked. It was rude to just talk about yourself, or so he'd been taught, so it was good to ask questions about the other person.

"Yep, a bunch of times! Dad takes me to Central with him sometimes. What's that dot on your head?" Ethan explained before spotting the red mark under the older boy's bangs and quickly changing the subject. It was so quick in fact, it took Selim a second to actually register the question, and when he did it took everything he could not to make some excuse to head back down stairs. He hated it when people stared at the mark.

"N-nothing, just a birthmark…" he mumbled, wishing he'd worn a hat or something over, so he could pull it down and hide himself in it. The other boy didn't seem to pick up on his discomfort though, just shrugging before turning away.

"So what do you like to do for fun? I like bugs. I collect um, see?" the blonde pointed at a shelf full of plastic cases filled with bugs, just as he said. He pulled one down in order to give Selim a closer look. "This is Weevil. He's a weevil. Usually I don't name the bugs after what they are, like, I don't have any ants named ant, but I like the word weevil, it's funny sounding, and I'm not going to name a grasshopper weevil, because he's not one, you know?" Selim nodded, not sure what to say to the blonde's mini rant.

Ethan then proceeded to explain the other bugs on the shelf, and Selim actually found it a bit interesting, even if it was hard to keep up with the fast talking boy and the spiders were creepy. As long as Ethan didn't make him hold any of them, it might actually be fun here.

* * *

Yay. Done. I feel like celebrating. Initiating disco mode!

Okay, annnnyway, I hope you all like this. By the way, I had to change Ethan's name when I was one paragraph from finishing the chapter. It was originally Mason, but then randomly out of the blue I remembered that Izumi and Sig's employee name was that, and decided on a one Steve limit, ya know? So yeah, well, like I said, tell me if you like the names, the chapter, how I'm characterizing the kids, or if you have a problem with any of those things. I'm here to please.


	7. Chapter 7

Hi there. I'm still here. I feel like each chapter I get out for one of my stories is a triumph. Even if writing these is distracting me from actual work that needs to be done… Ah well, I'm sure it will all pay off in the end, right? Anyway, on with the next chapter.

Chapter 7

Selim was pretty thankful for the chance to stay up in Ethan's room until Mr. Al called him to leave. If there was one thing that the black haired boy noticed about the Elric family, save for the mild mannered Alphonse, is that they were loud people. He could easily hear Mr. Ed and his wife, even though the blonde in front of his was no timid child in the least. He had to admit, it was a little intimidating, and to think they lived in such a peaceful little town.

When the two boys had come downstairs, Selim noticed Mr. Ed sweeping them over, as if checking if anything was misplaced. It brought back a feeling he had when the man had told them to be careful. It felt more like he was warning his son to be careful, not him. He was probably just being overly suspicious though, parents said things like that to their kids all the time, his mother was especially fond of repeating it over and over to him.

"Uncle Al, can Selim come and play tomorrow?" Ethan asked once they were ready to leave. That surprised the older boy somewhat, he wanted to hang out with him again? Did that make them friends? He wasn't sure, he'd never really had a friend his own age before. He considered Mr. Al a friend, but more in a really nice uncle or baby sitter kind of way. Which he kind of was. Well, not an uncle, but a baby sitter yes. As the blonde man shared a glance with his brother, Selim suddenly hoped he said yes. Ethan was kind of intimidating, much like the rest of his family, but for him it wasn't in a bad way.

"We'll see," was all he said though, and the two made their way out into the calm county air, such a contrast to the energetic and metallic feel of the Elric house. It was still rather early in the day, and Alphonse suggested they eat lunch when they got home.

After they finished eating, Selim was once again allowed to wonder and explore to amuse himself. While most adults the black haired boy had met tried to plan every last minute they had with a child so that they wouldn't get bored, he was glad Al didn't do this. It wasn't that he didn't care, it was just that he actually understood that sometimes kids have the most fun, or find the most interesting things, in Selim's case, if they were left to their own once and a while.

It occurred to him that this was only the second time he could remember ever being truly alone, except to sleep or go to the bathroom, and the first time was yesterday when Mr. Al had went to go cook, and that hadn't even lasted very long. The guards were always there, and while he'd almost always ignored them, tending to forget their existence, it was a strange feeling walking around the backyard of the house completely and utterly alone. He wasn't sure if he liked it, actually. It felt almost wrong.

Those thoughts were soon replaced though as he became distracted by the various foliage and other items in the yard. He'd always liked plants. He never saw any except for the ones at his gardens back home though, living so close to the city.

Looking out, the young boy noticed an old, dead like silhouette pf a tree on the top of a hill not too far away. There wasn't a single leaf it seemed, even though it was the middle of summer. Something was next to it. Thinking back, he'd remembered how Mr. Al had told him that his childhood home had burned down in a fire. What he was looking at matched that description pretty well. Glancing back towards the backdoor, he frowned slightly. Mr. Al was trusting him to be good and not wonder off or get into any trouble. This was his first extended amount of time not being watched, and he it was his duty to prove that he didn't need to be.

Although… Alphonse never said he had to stay in the backyard, and he _could _still see the house from the top of that hill. It really wasn't that far. It probably wouldn't take that long, Mr. Al might not even notice he was gone. It wasn't like he was going to play around in the debris and get hurt either, he just wanted to look.

Taking one last look back at the house, Selim started down towards the hill. If he was fast, it would be like he never even left.

Climbing up the worn path, it really was steep. He wondered if it snowed in the winter. If it did, this would be the perfect kind of hill to sled on. He'd never actually gone sledding, there weren't any hills big enough around him, but he could only imagine how fast someone would go down a slope like this. He'd have to ask Mr. Al to let him come visit next time it snowed.

Coming over the peak of the hill, Selim saw that he was right in what he thought it was. There really wasn't much left though, most of it looking pretty decayed, but Alphonse had said the fire had happened when he was around his age. Sure, the blonde man wasn't that old, but there was still plenty of time for the burnt wood to deteriorate and rot away.

Walking up to the lone tree he notice that it was pretty burnt up as well. The top branches looked black from where he was standing under it, but he wasn't really sure. He circled around the bottom of the old tree, running his hand along it. It must have been dead for a long time. He wondered if there was any use for the old thing. It seemed like a waste just having it sit here and decay, but he didn't know many uses for burned wood. Maybe there were some kinds of animals that still used it…

Lost in thought, Selim didn't notice at first the subtle cracking sound emanating from somewhere above his head. A louder snapping brought him out of his thoughts enough to cause him to look up, trying to find the cause. He didn't see anything.

One final crack definitely showed him where the sound came from as one of the dead branches broke free from the tree and started descending towards him before he could think to move. He didn't even have time to scream as he squeezed his eyes shut tight and lifted his arms over his head in a desperate attempt at protection. Oh, that branch was going to smash his head in or at least cause some pretty nasty injuries and Mr. Al was going to find him and then he'd have to get stitches and go home and his mom would be mad and he'd never be able to leave the house without a guard ever again and he never should of came to this stupid hill and what in the world was taking that branch so long? Was he already dead?

Cracking one eye open to make sure he wasn't surrounded by fluffy white clouds or, much worse, fire, he opened them both, still cautiously though, when he noticed he was still standing on the hill. Feeling his head, there wasn't any blood, or skull or wood chipping, just his normal hair. Legs giving out, Selim sunk to the ground in relief. He wasn't hurt. He was just fine, but then where had the branch gone?

Looking around he saw the thick piece of wood lying on the ground next to him, broken in two probably from the impact. Standing up and away from the piece of wood, the black haired boy started running back down the hill and towards Mr. Alphonse home as quick as his legs could take him.

Once he reached the yard the ten year old was once again on the ground, although more from exhaustion then fear, not that it had disappeared completely, and panting heavily. He'd made it back pretty fast, if he just composed himself then Mr. Al would never realize he'd left, and everything would be okay.

"Have fun?" Al's voice managed rather easily to startle the boy, sending him into a coughing fit. "Hey, are you alright?" the blonde asked as he walked up and knelt beside the boy, who nodded as the coughing started to die down. Al waited until Selim breath was steady again before talking. "What happened?"

Selim gulped, now he was going to get in trouble. He couldn't very well pretend it was nothing after that. "I uh, w-went up to the ruins of your old house," he explained, and the blonde nodded, indicating for him to continued. Shoot, he was kind of hoping he could get away with just saying that. "A branch from the old tree almost fell on me, so I got scared and ran back," he explained in a near whisper. He didn't want to get in trouble and be sent back already. He'd just got here and he hadn't done anything yet. Mr. Al simply stood back up and sighed though.

"It's dangerous up there. I don't want you going back up there again without me or some other adult, got it? You could of gotten hurt, and then what would your mother do to me?" the blonde chastised. Selim stood up on still wobbly legs, staring at the man in confusion.

"You mean you're not going to send me back home?" he asked without thinking, causing Al to laugh as he shook his head.

"Send you home? Of course not. Please, Ed and I did much, much worse as kids. You're not in trouble. Now let's head inside, you look like you could use a drink," the young adult said before heading towards the house. Selim blinked in confusion as he stared at Al's retreating back. He wasn't in trouble? When he was at home, he was always terrified of acting out or breaking the rules, although he never really noticed it before. It wasn't his mother he was afraid of though. She would never hurt him or punish him any more then he deserved, it was… the guards? Yeah, the guards. They were always watching him, making sure he didn't get out of line, but he didn't know why.

"Are you coming?" Al asked as he looked back at the child, still standing in the same exact spot. Blinking out of his trance, Selim nodded.

"Y-yes!" He said, before running, slower then before, to catch up with the older man. The guards weren't here though, they weren't watching for him to slip up this time. Smiling despite himself, he decided his earlier feelings were quickly changing. It didn't feel wrong anymore, that wasn't the right word. No, it was something else entirely.

It actually felt kind of liberating.

* * *

Hurray, another chapter completed. What do you think? Selim's just starting to realize how secretly suffocating his life actually is. Where will this lead? I most likely know the answer to this, but am not telling you. That would ruin the surprise, if it even is one. Now I'm just talking in circles.

Well, please review.


	8. Chapter 8

Hi y'all. Stayed home sick today with an upset stomach, so I thought I'd crank out chapter eight. Been on a Pride buzz the last few days, so this actually got moved up a spot in my 'need to update' list.

Special mentions to Attention2Detaille, an amazing Pride fan fiction writer. We were discussing different theories involving Pride and now I know how to handle a huge plot point that will be coming up… eventually. If you haven't read her story Sin's Child, and you love Pride, you definitely should.

Chapter 8

The rest of the day passed mostly uneventfully, staying inside the house with Mr. Al. Selim called his mother after dinner again, to tell her how his day had been. He left out the part about leaving the yard without permission and nearly being knocked out by a falling tree branch. Thankfully Al didn't mention any of it while he was on the phone either.

A few hours later Selim was told to head off to bed. It was around nine, and the black haired boy didn't object. He was exhausted. He didn't usually do so many things in one day. Reaching the guest room, Selim quickly changed into his pajamas before crawling into bed and shutting off the light.

It didn't take long for the tired child to drift off to what was at first, a rather peaceful sleep. That changed though as his mind was quickly wrapped up in the distorted illusion of a dream.

It was night, and he was in a forest. Several trees and bushes were on fire. Selim tried to step away from the fires, but couldn't move his body. Any attempt to speak ended the same way, completely unable to even remove the strange smirk from his face. The black haired boy tried to focus his eyes, but couldn't get rid of the strange, warped perspective. It was like he had eyes in several different places, and most of them worked independently of the others. The swirling scenery made him feel sick

There were several people in front of his, a few he recognized instantly, despite the headache setting in. Edward Elric was there, but younger then normal. There was also what he was pretty sure was a younger version of the current emperor of Xing, as well as a few body guards.

A man who looked half man half lion was being help but by one of the Xing guards. He looked injured, but that didn't distract from the instant wave of fear that overcame the child. That monster had attacked him. He couldn't remember when or why, but he'd attacked him, and Selim wanted to get as far away from it as he could. Of course he couldn't do that though, unable to move his body.

He, or rather, his body, turned to it side in order to face someone Selim hadn't previously noticed. He was larger then Selim. Not necessarily because he was taller, although he was, but just overall huge. He could easily carry, or crush, the child, but he didn't really look that threatening.

"Gluttony," the black haired boy started, although he hadn't meant to. "How many times have you died so far?" Selim had no idea what he meant, even though he was saying it. In reality though, there was no way it could be him. That wasn't his voice, it was darker, colder, almost metallic really. Panic began to spread though his mind, not that anyone could realize that by looking at him.

"Died? Lotsa times, I think," the fat man, Gluttony apparently, answered him. After that the world seemed to speed up. He might of said something else, but he wasn't sure. All he knew was that those shadows, those terrible, terrible shadows that were always there began to close in on the Mr. Gluttony man.

They bit right though him without a second thought, and he was _still_ yelling after being torn in half. His body just started to disintegrate, the skin and muscle and bones that were left flaking away like dust. Everyone was staring, horrified. They had every right to be. The only person not disturbed was Selim. Well, not true, _Selim_ was terrified, but whatever monster had control over his body certainly wasn't.

The shadows started to increase, their teeth having gone from flat and blunt to deadly sharp, and Selim felt the monster in his body raise his arm in order to lick his thumb. Edward Elric and the emperor of Xing and the others were frozen in horror and a bit of anger, in the Emperor's case. All Selim could do was cower in the back of his mind.

This whole situation was terrifying. _He_ was terrifying!

"Selim, Selim, wake up!" Al yelled, shaking the hysterical sleeping child. Suddenly his eyes shot open, not appearing to focus on everything as they darted around the room, the black haired boy trying desperately to get his bearings after the sudden switch in reality. Finally he managed to focus on the man sitting on the edge of his bed, staring worriedly at him.

Taking a few deep breaths Selim tried to regain control, the realization that it had all been just another dream keeping his from immediately bursting into tears. He'd even had one similar to it before. Only that had been mostly in a flash, while this was more spread out, detailed, real. It was just another dream though. Just another dream. Just another dream.

"Shh," Al said, rubbing his back in an attempt to sooth the shaking child. "It was just a dream," Selim nodded, not trusting himself to start speaking yet. He just had to calm down. None of it was real, there was nothing to be afraid of.

Slowly he did manage to calm down, neither boy saying anything during that time though. During that time Selim started to notice a few things around him. The door was flung open and his light was on. Mr. Al's hair was also a mess. He must have been sleeping before he'd come in. With that came the realization that he'd just been found having one of his nightmares. He didn't want to tell anyone about them, but Mr. Al was sure to ask what had scared him so bad.

"Better now?" The blonde man asked, and Selim nodded yet again. He just noticed that he was squeezing the life out of his stuffed armor, Mother having packed it even though he said he didn't need it. While deep down he was glad she had, it was a bit embarrassing. Mr. Al had made it for him when he was like, four years old, he shouldn't still be sleeping with it. At least, not with anyone knowing. The blonde man didn't seem to notice though, too focused on Selim himself.

"R-really, I am," the black haired boy started, Al not seeming too convinced. "Sorry for waking you," he apologized, almost burying his face in the stuffed toy now. Alphonse shook his head though, smiling at him gently.

"It's fine, I was already awake," he said, although Selim severely doubted the legitimacy of that statement. Al didn't leave him too much time to ask about it though, changing the subject back towards the dream. "So, do you want to talk about it?" the blonde asked, using the typical question adults used when dealing with kids and nightmares. Selim, in turn, answered like most kids.

"N-not really," he mumbled, not looking up from the stuffed armor. Al sighed, a bit like he expected that kind of answer.

"They say talking about your dreams makes them go away, and that you feel better afterwards," He tried again, but Selim shook his head. He didn't mean to be rude, but he couldn't tell Mr. Al about the dreams. They were off-limits to the adults, something deep inside told him this, and for who knows what reason he didn't doubt it for a second. Standing up, Al sighed, but still managed to somehow keep a smile on his face. "Alright, I wont make you tell me if you don't want to," the blonde man said, and Selim internally breathed a sigh of relief.

"Sorry Mr. Al," he said, although he wasn't really sure what he was apologizing for. He guessed it was for waking him up and then refusing to even tell him why he was freaking out in the first place. Al shook his head though, waving the apology away.

"Don't be, you didn't do anything wrong. Now that we're up though, why don't we go make ourselves an early breakfast, after all, it's only," the blonde took a quick glance at the clock, "six am. A bit early, but I've done worse," Selim nodded, noticing for the first time that the sky outside was actually starting to turn colors as well, the lamp from his room not being the only source of light anymore.

Standing up, Selim made sure to put the stuffed toy he was still holding down before beginning to follow Mr. Al towards the kitchen. Thinking over what the young adult said, a thought came to Selim, and he smiled slightly. It didn't usually happen with Al, he didn't lie much to begin with, but he loved catching adults in them.

"Mr. Al, I thought you said you were already awake?" At this, Al stopped in his tracks, laughing nervously.

"Well, you know. I wasn't awake-awake, just uhh…" frowning when he couldn't think of an excuse, the blonde quickly changed the subject. "So, do you want eggs and scrapple or pancakes? I have the ingredients for both. Of course, we could always have both, although that is a lot of food. Or we could always just…" at that point Selim started to tune the rambling man out. He knew by the end he'd of answered his own question, and Selim was fine with that. Whatever Mr. Al cooked would be amazing.

Sitting down at the kitchen table the black haired boy only half listened to the possible breakfast combinations Al was listing off. He was still pretty tired, but the chances of him falling back to sleep after one of those dreams were slim. He really was glad that the older man decided to stay up with him. Making breakfast and everything.

"Alright, so eggs and pancakes it is?" Alphonse asked, and Selim nodded, just coming out of his own little trance.

"That sounds great," he said, and the blonde quickly went to work preparing the food. Selim occupied himself by staring out the window, thoughts of his nightmare quickly fading from his mind. It faced east, and the sun was starting to rise. He never could see the sunrise properly back home, even if he managed to wake up that early. There were always buildings in the way.

It sure was pretty in Resembool.

* * *

Hurray, chapter done. This one was both hard and easy at the same time. I had trouble trying to figure out how exactly to write the dream part. Still not sure if I'm entirely satisfied with it.

Well, if you liked it, or hated it, or anything, please review.


	9. Chapter 9

What's up internet land? Thought of the majority of this chapter while half asleep on the bus this morning. I was suppose to be thinking about a different story, but oh how the mind wanders.

We're almost at ten chapters. From recent experience with my other stories, that is about when things start to pick up and become interesting. If this will head the same way, hopefully.

Chapter 9

Selim was right, breakfast was delicious. They'd finished at a little after seven, and afterwards, the two went to the living room, Al deciding the best thing to do to pass the time was read aloud a book. The black haired boy always loved it when Mr. Al read to him. It wasn't that he couldn't read himself, by no means, but Al just did it so much better. Curling up next to the blonde on the couch, Selim tried to keep himself from falling back to sleep.

It was around eight when a knock on the door interrupted Al in the middle of his sentence. Selim had been half asleep at this point and rubbed his eyes drearily as the young adult walked over to the door.

"Hey Uncle Al! Can Selim come out and play?" Ethan asked, nearly bouncing as he stood at the door. Al smiled down at his nephew before glancing at a clock, Selim walking over cautiously. Ethan had really meant it when he'd said he wanted to play again.

"Does you're father know you're here?" The blonde man asked, and the young boy nodded enthusiastically.

"Yep, I asked him before I came. He was all 'yes, yes. Just go and let me sleep already, it's like four in the morning,' and then I said 'dad, it's eight' and he said he didn't care either way" Ethan explained, causing Al to chuckle at the child's impersonation. Glancing back at Selim standing meekly in the center of the living room, he gave a small sigh under his breath.

"Do you want to go play, Selim?" he asked kindly, taking the boy a bit by surprise. For some reason, he didn't think his opinion would of mattered. Quickly getting over it, he nodded. "Alright then, go get dressed," the black haired boy quickly ran off to do as he was told, having forgotten he'd still been in his pajamas as Al turned back to his nephew in the door. "He'll be out in a minute."

Selim came back in a pair of tan shorts, a grey, short sleeved collard shorts and brown shoes. His bangs were brushed down over his forehead, just barely managing to conceal the red mark under them. Ethan quickly ran in and grabbed his arm, dragging him outside in a manner very similar to the day before, Selim barely managing to close the door on the way out behind them.

"So I know Uncle Al showed you around Resembool already, but he probably didn't show you everything, at least not all the cool stuff," the blonde started once he'd finally slowed down, ceasing his grip on Selim's arm in the process, something the older boy was quite grateful for. The two were walking along one of the dirt paths that made there way throughout the small town, flocked on both sides by fields and hills.

"Um, it all seemed cool to me…" Selim said nervously, and Ethan simply shrugged, not seeming too fazed by that.

"Yeah, I guess it would, you never really left the city, have you?" Ethan asked, and the black haired boy shook his head. Ethan nodded, seeming to appreciate the answer. "Yep, well, there's this stuff, that Uncle Al probably showed you yesterday, the fields and the sheep and all that stuff, which is pretty boring, but there's also the forest and other places that are kind of cool," Selim nodded as the other boy explained. He guessed he saw where the blonde was going, but it still all seemed interesting to him, anyway.

They made their way to the forest Ethan had mentioned rather quickly, and Selim had to admit he was impressed. He'd never seen so many trees in one place before, except for when they'd passed a few forests on the train, but that had been going too fast for him to really get a good look at it.

"See, cool, huh?" Ethan asked, and the black haired boy nodded absently, not sure what to do now that they were here.

"Um, now what?" Selim asked softly, glancing around to try and find the source of the bird chirps he heard. The younger boy shrugged, leaning against a tree lazily.

"Hmm, I'm not sure. Did Uncle Al show you the river?" Ethan asked, and Selim nodded, causing the boy to start to think again. Selim entertained himself by inspecting various plants and objects that littered the ground. After a while, Ethan left his post by the tree and walked over to the other boy.

"Ya know, you're not like I thought you'd be," he said, which definitely caught Selim's attention. Placing the moss covered rock he'd been looking over down, he turned towards the other boy.

"What do you mean?" he asked. What was the impression that Mr. Ed and Al gave of him? He knew that it couldn't of been of a completely normal kid, they acted too shady for anyone to think that, or at least Edward did.

"Well, my dad acts kind of weird whenever you're brought up, so I wasn't really sure what ya'd be like," Ethan explained, and Selim nodded. That didn't surprise him at all, but maybe Ethan knew something he didn't. It wasn't very likely though, after all, what were the chances that there was anything to know in the first place? He was just some normal kid who'd been adopted by some high-class people. Right?

"Um, what does he say about me?" the black haired boy asked, and Ethan set his face into a frown, rubbing his foot in the ground in concentration.

"Not much really, but that's what's weird. He kind of clams up whenever Uncle Al brings you up," Selim sighed slightly under his breath, nodding. That's what he'd expected, anyway. So he didn't know anything. Despite the constant reassurance he gave himself that it was nothing, it didn't stop the hope that he might find something explaining everything.

"That's okay, I didn't think there'd be anything anyway," he said softly. Noticing the older boy's slightly disappointed face, Ethan's face lit up, gears working in his head, putting two and two together.

"Is there some secret you're trying to figure out?" he asked hyperly, getting a bit close to the black haired boy in the process and effectively breaking Selim out of his thoughts.

"N-no! At least, I don't think there is," he defended, taking a few steps back, although it didn't seem to derail the younger boy any.

"So what, is there some sort of super secret conspiracy behind you? Or maybe there's some sort of dark mystery around your past! Are you an amnesiac! Maybe you have a hidden past! That'd be so cool!" Ethan was nearly jumping by now, busy creating as many different theories as he could. Selim shook his head repeatedly, trying to get the boy to calm down.

"N-no! It's nothing like that! I'm not an amnesiac, where'd you get that idea? I remember everything. People just act weird around me sometimes, like your dad, and I don't know why," Selim said quickly, telling the other boy the truth. It was something he didn't normally do, but it was okay if Ethan knew. It had nothing to do with him, so it wasn't off-limits, as long as he didn't say anything to anyone else.

"Oh, well, it's still pretty neat. Have you ever just asked why?" The blonde asked, seemingly much calmer now then a few moments ago. Selim shook his head.

"No, but please don't. I don't think it's a good idea. It's not that important anyway," the older boy pleaded slightly. He really hoped he wouldn't regret even telling Ethan that much. The blonde just shrugged though.

"If that's whatcha want. Hey! As long as I keep it a secret, can I like, snoop around? Try and find out what's behind it all, kind of like a detective. A volunteer detective, that way you don't have to pay me," Ethan asked, and Selim thought for a bit. If he didn't get caught then… well no, it was probably a waste of time, there wouldn't be anything to find.

The annoying inkling of a voice in the back of his head protested. The same voice that always hoped for information, making him feel that there really was something beyond his normal, everyday life. The more he tried to rebut it, the stronger it seemed to get. Things weren't like this for other kids. For normal kids. What made him so different? The eight year old in front of him stared hopefully for the permission of become his 'volunteer detective' and Selim gave into the urging feeling.

"Well, if you don't get caught, the I guess. I mean, there probably isn't anything, but it could still be… fun?" Selim nearly asked, and Ethan nodded enthusiastically.

"Yeah, and I probably will find something, because that would be awesome. Things aren't weird for no reason, you know?" the blonde stated, echoing Selim's earlier thoughts, and he had to nod in agreement. They weren't. "Awesome, I'll start as soon as I get home. Before that though, I still have a whole bunch of Resembool to show you!" he said, grabbing Selim's arm yet again and beginning to drag him out of the forest to whatever destination was on his mind this time.

The black haired boy wondered slightly if Ethan knew any other way to get someone to follow him then resorting to physical means, or if his arm would get used to this before his two weeks were up. Probably not for both things, but he didn't really mind.

Somehow, someway, he'd made a friend. Not only that, but he was going to help him try and sort out the tangled feelings that mucked up his life. Sure, he wasn't exactly super confident on how well his hyperactive 'volunteer detective' would perform, but it was better then nothing.

It was all much, much better then the nothing that seemed to prevail in his life before all this, broken only by the occasion visit from Alphonse and taking care of his cat.

* * *

Yay. Done. How do you guys like Ethan so far? I'm always terrified of OCs, so he's a real scare for me. The next chapter is especially, seeing as a part of it is going to be focused solely on him. I really hope you guys like him so far, but if you see any problems in chracterization, then tell me. I don't want to get Gary Stu all up in this place. If you do like him though, then yay, I can stop worrying.  
Please review.


	10. Chapter 10

Hello all. Are we at chapter ten already? Wow, hope you've been liking it so far. As with all my other stories, nowhere near done, but it's still nice to hit the double digits.

Chapter 10

Ethan closed the door to his house as quietly as he could before running up to his room. After Selim and him had left the forest, he showed the black haired boy around most of the outer parts of town, although neither had been entirely sure what to do the entire time. He hadn't of been able to get the idea of being some sort of detective out of his head though. What if there really was something mysterious about Selim's life? That'd be so cool! He just had to figure out how to find it.

Sitting down on his bed, the blonde boy tried to think of what sort of plan he would need to figure it out. In the books, children with special pasts or the ones chosen to have something great and powerful given to them usually had it told to them by finding clues or a secret letter or some magic powers being used. There was also usually something that marked them as different too, and Selim did have that mark on his forehead, so maybe there was something with that?

Standing up, Ethan decided that he would go check the attic first. Attics were great places to keep magic spell books or old letters from the dead or a special trinket that would activate entrance to another world.

Dragging a chair over, he tried to reach the string hanging from the fold away stairs. Almost… almost… got it! The seldom used ladder fell away in front of him, and the blonde quickly pushed the chair out of the way to the side of the hallway.

"Whatcha doing?" the boy's sister Sarah asked as she stepped out of her room, most likely having heard the loud bang caused by the dropping staircase.

"I got bored and wanted to check out the attic, don't tell mom and dad, okay?" Ethan said without looking back, already up to the third ring of the ladder. The young girl came over to the base of the stairway, looking up to the black entrance.

"Can I come?" she asked innocently, but the older boy shook his head, pulling himself over the thresh hold and looking down, having reached the top without much difficulty.

"Nope, it's much too dangerous," Ethan said, sounding more happy and excited then actually worried, effectively ruining any impact his words might have had. The blonde girl crossed her arms, pouting up at her brother.

"Than I'm telling!" she said stubbornly, turning away to begin the search for the two's parents.

"N-no!" Ethan called quickly, causing the young girl to stop and turn back towards him. He bit his bottom lip in thought, trying to figure out some way to keep his parents from being told but not let Sarah come with him. If he found something up there, she couldn't be there to find out too. "Um, you can't tell mom and dad, it's really important. Um, oh, I got an idea. If you can find three blue marbles hidden in my room, you can come up here, okay?" he asked.

"Okay!" his sister said before running off into his room. Ethan lost no time in pulling the ladder up and closing the swing door. That trick should buy him some time, his sister hated to quit on anything, and there was no way she wouldn't find the marbles, seeing as they didn't actually exist.

Grabbing a string above his head, Ethan turned on a light, managing to illuminate the dusty piles of boxes and unidentifiable objects in low light. Walking forward, he made sure not to trip over anything left lying on the floor, sneezing a bit at the disturbed dust. They didn't come up here often, it was mostly used for storage alone.

Smiling at the thought, he started towards the back end of the large, compartmented room. All the better to house the first clue to the start of an epic, monster fighting, magic wielding, kill or be killed journey.

Selim slowly closed the door behind him, stepping into Mr. Al's living room. "I'm back," he called into the house, not sure if the older man would of heard him come in or not. Ethan had left him in front of the house before running off saying he was going to start him search for whatever it was that made things strange right away. So far, Selim wasn't sure if he should be grateful or worried.

"In here!" Alphonse called from the other room, and Selim quickly went towards the source of the voice after kicking his shoes off and placing them in a corner. He was sure there wasn't anything to worry about, it wasn't like the chances of Ethan actually finding anything was that high to begin with.

Reaching where he was almost positive he heard Mr. Al's voice come from, he realized that it was one of the few rooms he'd yet to go into. Alphonse had never given his a real tour of his home, and Selim had simply found new places by walking into them. There weren't that many rooms with doors anyway, just the bedrooms, bathrooms and a few closets. Shaking his head at the over-analysis he was giving a room, he opened the door.

It was a study, at least the black haired boy was ninety-nine percent sure it was, and Mr. Al was sitting at a desk up against the far wall. Hearing him enter, Al turned around to face him and smiled, motioning for the younger boy to come in. Selim quickly obliged, looking around in a bit of awe at all the books lining the wall. Of course, he'd seen some large collections of books, this room paling in comparison to some of the libraries he'd seen, but it was still impressive for one person.

"Hey there, have fun with Ethan?" the blonde man asked, turning back towards his desk. Selim nodded, stepping up next to him, trying to see whatever it was on the papers that Mr. Al was working on.

"Yep," he said absently, attempting to read the paper closest to him. Al couldn't help but chuckle at the seldom seen drop of the child's polite front for the more natural curiosity he seemed to have. Standing up, he pushed the papers into a more orderly pile, causing Selim to frown slightly at not being able to see what the papers were about before he had.

"Just some alchemic equations, you wouldn't understand," the blonde man explained at his downtrodden expression. Selim simply nodded, and Al decided it was probably best to change the subject. "I'm going to go make us some lunch, okay? You must be hungry by now," he said, turning to leave the study. "You can do what you like until it's done, shouldn't take long," the young man called as he left the room.

Glancing around the space, Selim walked over to one of the bookshelves. Mr. Al did say he could do what he wanted until lunch was done, so surely he wouldn't mind if he took a look at a few of the alchemy books he had, right? They didn't have many alchemy books at his house, and despite getting to see some rather impressive libraries, he never had the chance to check out more then one or two alchemy books in his life. Mr. Al had said that he would teach his alchemy one day, so he couldn't be against it, right?

Searching the titles, he found one, appearing older then the rest, called 'Introduction to Alchemy.' Well, no wonder it looked old, Mr. Alphonse had been learning alchemy since when he was younger then Selim. Grabbing that one, he sat down in the chair at the desk, careful not to mess with the pile of papers still there, and started reading.

It really was complicated, but he was actualy able to understand it for the most part. At least, he thinks he does. The black haired boy was so absorbed with his reading that he didn't notice when Alphonse had stepped back into the room.

"Thought I'd find you here," he said, lifting the book out of the young boy's hands, a lighthearted tone to his voice. Selim looked up, a confused expression on his face, before realizing who it was. Al glanced at what page he was on before closing the book and placing it back down on the desk. "Well, you sure did read quite a bit while I was gone. C'mon, lunch is ready," he said before turning to leave, saying nothing else on the subject.

Selim wasn't quite sure what to do for a few moments, simply sitting in the chair for about five seconds longer before getting up and following the tall man into the kitchen. Alphonse had made some sort Xingese dish that smelled delicious, although for the life of his Selim couldn't remember the name. Sitting down at the open seat, Selim decided to just ask it already, it wasn't likely that it would go too wrong.

"Mr. Al, can you teach me alchemy?" Alphonse held up his hand as he finished swallowing the food already in his mouth before answering.

"I had a feeling you would ask me that," he said in a rather neutral voice, and Selim didn't move as he waited for the answer. "It wont be easy, and there is no way we'd be able to get close to finished by the time you left," the black haired boy tried to keep the smile off his face despite the rather un-encouraging things Mr. Al was saying, "but… alright, I suppose we can at least start a bit of basic training," Selim broke out into a full smile at that, even getting up from his seat to run over and give the blonde man a quick little hug.

"Thank you Mr. Al, I promise I'll do the best I can!" he said, quickly running back over to his seat and sitting down again, as if none of that had happened. Al let out a full laugh at that, he really was just a kid. A strange, strange kid, but a kid.

"Alright, alright, we'll start tomorrow, and remember what I said. It wont be easy," Selim nodded, he knew that. Sure, he understood the book a bit better then he thought he would, but that was just words, that was nothing compared to actually practicing it. A thought started pricking away at the edge of his thought, and the black haired boy frowned slightly. Usually he tried to avoid questions, especially ones he'd already asked, but sometimes it would be almost suspicious if he didn't ask, if a question happened to be obvious enough.

"Why can't Mr. Edward do alchemy? You said he's smart, but he can't do it," Selim asked in between bites of food, causing Al to sigh under his breath. They'd been through this before, but the answer was never satisfying for either end.

"Ed doesn't want to do alchemy," the blonde man said after a moment of thinking, "he used to," Selim's eyes widened at that. He had no idea that Mr. Edward used to be an alchemist. When Al said he didn't do alchemy, he'd assumed that meant always. It was one of the things that separated the read Edward from the one in his dreams… "but he gave it up years ago," Al finished.

"Why?" maybe he was digging too deep now, but he couldn't help himself from asking. It just didn't seem right, for someone to just stop like that. Especially with the way he'd heard Edward complain about not using alchemy several times just for Alphonse to quickly shush him. Mr. Al didn't answer though, standing up with his plate and walking over to the sink.

"When you're older Selim, okay?" Although the blonde had asked, it wasn't really a question. Selim nodded anyway, taking his own empty plate to the sink. Sighing to himself slightly, the ten year old decided it would be best to change the topic. It wasn't just that it was definitely venturing into things he probably shouldn't know, but it made Mr. Al sad for some reason. Even if he was trying to just sound neutral, there was a tone that definitely sounded a bit like guilt to the child.

"So I can really learn alchemy starting tomorrow?" he asked, a hyper tone to his voice. Al smiled as he nodded at him, although Selim could see a bit of force behind it.

"Of course, now come on, why don't I finish reading you that book from this morning?" the blonde asked, and Selim nodded happily. This morning, that seemed so long ago now, and he hadn't even had dinner yet.

How would he ever make the wait until tomorrow?

* * *

Yay, completion. The plot is starting to move ahead. What will Ethan find in the attic? If he's correct genre savvy, then something important. I wanted to make his seem like a normal, hyperactive kid who loves adventure, was I successful? Also, I know his sister hasn't done much, but I'm not quite sure what to do with her, really. She's pretty young and doesn't really care for Selim all that much.  
Well, I hope you liked the chapter, and please review.


	11. Chapter 11

Happy early Easter everybody! Finally on spring break, so I have time to actually write again. Whoo! When I'm not busy with studying, that is. But enough of being a downer (apparently whenever I tell a story, it'll be happy, until about the last line where it will be something along the lines of 'and then he died in a car crash four years later' or 'but then they moved away and now a mean old couple lives there, so I can't go in their yard anymore' yes, both actually happened) and on with the chapter.

Chapter 11

After Alphonse finished reading Selim the rest of his book a few hours later, he started making dinner. Selim tried to occupy his mind, but couldn't stop thinking about how much he wanted it to be tomorrow. Al noticed his restlessness and couldn't help but chuckle. He remembered when he was first learning alchemy, it really had been so exciting, especially when they first started, their first transmutation, finally getting a teacher. It wasn't hard to imagine the impatient going through the boy's head.

"Don't worry, once you go to sleep it will be like the time passed by without you even knowing," the blond said as the child helped him stir some of the vegetables in a pot. Selim nodded absently as he watched the greens swirl around in the water.

"I know, I'm fine," he said and Al simply nodded, a smile still on his face. People had always thought he was even stranger then Mrs. Bradley when she decided to keep him for spending so much time with the formally evil child, but he couldn't really help it. He really had changed, not to mention he was a sucker for cute things. Finally when it all boiled down though, it was simply more practical and safer to have him under watch by someone who could possibly hold their own in a fight if anything were to happen, but after so long, he really didn't think it would.

"You know, they say alchemy started in the kitchen," the blond man said, repeating something his brother had said to him years ago. Selim looked up curiously at his words before quickly glancing back towards one of the pots.

"Really? How?" he asked, sounding a bit mystified and confused. Al sometimes liked to pretend that that was why he enjoyed cooking so much, but in truth it was most likely just the years he'd gone without any food.

"Oh well, y'know, what we're doing is a lot like alchemy. When you cook food you end up transforming it. Just think of how different a cake is from a pile of flour, eggs and water," Alphonse explained, and Selim couldn't help but nod in agreement. It was a lot like alchemy, he'd never thought of it that way before.

"That's really neat," it must have been why Mr. Al was such a good cook, because he was an amazing alchemist. Personally, he thought Mr. Al was the greatest alchemist in the country, although he said that he was nothing compared to his teacher or father. Mr. Elric had apparently died years ago, a little before Selim was born, actually, and he'd never met Mr. Al's teacher. He wasn't even sure if she was still alive. Apparently she had been sick for years when she taught him, but they never said if she got better or worse.

Once dinner was done they ate, and Selim wondered exactly how someone would go about making the exact meal actually with alchemy. Maybe he would one day.

When it was finally time for bed, Selim tried to get to sleep as fast as he could, but whenever you try that it never seems to work. His mind kept going on and on about how tomorrow would be. When he tried to distract himself from that he eventually ended up thinking about Ethan and how his 'investigation' went. Surely he hadn't been able to actually find anything. It was strange, how he hoped he did and yet hoped he didn't at the same time. He didn't want his feeling to be proven right, but didn't think it would ever go away without proof.

Ah well, he'd probably find out tomorrow. So many things, he'd find out tomorrow.

Ethan desperately tried not to trip as he worked his way back to the farthest corner of the attic he could find. He had no idea what part of the house he was over, so he had to be extra careful in making sure his parents couldn't hear him. Finally deciding he probably went far enough, he started to dig through the box closest to him. There wasn't much in it though, just a bunch of broken frames without any pictures in them and an old chewed up curtain.

On to the next box, not that it held any more interesting results. A dusty old plate set and a random light bulb that must of fell in by accident. Placing it all haphazardly back inside he quickly went to work on three more boxes with absolutely nothing to show for his work besides a couple of wreaked up old shoes, a broken toolbox with bits and pieces of rusted metal that may or may not have once been automail and a lamp without a light bulb.

Sitting down on an upturned box the blonde box frowned to himself. There had to be a better way of going through all this junk. He'd never find whatever it was he needed to find at this rate. It was never this hard for the kids in the books. They didn't even have to try, it always happened by accident to them.

Maybe he was trying too hard, but he didn't want to wait for Selim to have it happen to him by accident. What if he wasn't there? Standing up from the box, he started over to another end of the attic. It was better then just sitting there anyway.

It sure was hard moving around though, especially to the places that didn't really have any paths cleared to them. Those were the places he wanted to go through. Trying to climb over a barrier of stacked boxes, he wondered where all this stuff came from anyway. He knew that his mom had lived in this house growing up, so some of the stuff was from all the way back then.

Unsure of whether to keep going farther, maybe it would be too far, the blonde boy accidentally sent one of the boxes spirally towards the ground, landing and sending all of it's insides about the floor in a loud crash.

Oh shoot! That was sure to get someone's attention. Panicking, Ethan wasn't sure of what to do besides stand as still as he possibly could as he heard the staircase that led downstairs fall out.

"Is someone up here?" It was his mom, and she had a flashlight. Why didn't he think of that? The lights on the ceiling really didn't do much, especially in the dark corners he was searching in. Not sure what else to do as the blonde woman stepped forward, shinning her light around the dimly lit room, Ethan stepped forward.

"Hi mom," he said casually, hoping that if he acted like nothing was wrong she wouldn't get mad. That didn't seem like it was going to work though as she stormed towards his through the cluttered paths towards him.

"What in the world are you doing up here? It's dangerous you know. What was that crash?" she demanded, and Ethan shrugged, hoping that his mom would believe his excuse as easily as his sister.

"I was bored and wanted to see what kind of stuff was up here. Um, that box fell when I was trying to climb over it," the blonde explained, trying to look sheepish and sorry as not to get in too much trouble. His mother looked down at the turned over box, a few old photo albums and what might have been some old documents from Ed's work. Sighing, she shoved everything quickly back into the cardboard box before turning it upright and grabbing her son's arm.

"No more playing up here. You could of gotten hurt. Climbing over things, be happy it was that box that fell and not you," the woman ranted as she dragged her son back towards the exit. Ethan nodded as he followed obediently. Okay, so he'd have to be more careful next time he came up here, maybe when his parents weren't home.

Mrs. Elric made sure he went down the ladder first before going down herself. "and look at you, covered in dust. Go take a bath this instant," she demanded, although the blond boy couldn't help but frown slightly at this.

"But mom, you're always covered in grease and stuff! Why's it matter if I'm dusty?" the boy whined, although it probably wasn't the best thing to say.

"Bath. Now," his mother demanded again, and this time Ethan decided it would probably be best to listen to her. Hurrying towards the bathroom, he tried to ignore his sister as she stuck her tongue out at him as he walked past. She would of gotten in trouble too if he let her come up, she should be thanking him!

Reaching the bathroom door, Ethan decided it didn't matter. So he hadn't found anything yet, but he would. Maybe something accidentally happened to Selim already, and he would find out tomorrow. He hoped so, it would make him feel better about having to show up empty handed.

The next day Selim woke up extra early. He couldn't even remember when he had fallen asleep the night before, but looking at the clock, it read 7:26am, he wasn't even sure if Mr. Al would be up yet, let alone ready to start teaching him, especially since they had woken up so early yesterday too. Pulling on a clean set of clothes he headed out of the room and towards the kitchen. It was empty, not that it surprised him much.

Oh well, he could wait a little longer for Mr. Al to wake up. Maybe he could make himself breakfast in the meantime, he'd done it the day he left for Resembool.

Grabbing a loaf of bread, he didn't have the time to get it open before he heard a knock from the front door. That was weird, it was kind of early, but they were out in the country. Didn't people with farms get up at sunrise or something? It probably wasn't the best idea to open the door with Mr. Al still asleep all by himself, but as the person knocked again curiosity get the better of the boy and he put the loaf down in order to go see who the visitor was.

Opening the door Selim was greeted by Ethan struggling to hold onto his dog's leash. "Stop Mupples. Stop! Sit!" The blonde said to the grey and white dog. It eventually listened to him and stopped her pulling, allowing for her owner to actually turn and talk to Selim.

"Hey! I didn't think you'd be up. Is uncle Al awake?" Ethan asked, trying to sneak a peak behind the black haired boy's form. Selim shook his head and Ethan smiled, before having to regain his balance after nearly being pulled over by Mupples. "Ah! Urg, stupid," he grumbled before turning back towards his friend, "Well, what I wanted to say was that I wasn't able to find anything in my search yet. My mom found me up in the attic and got mad. Any better with you?"

"Um, well I didn't find anything, but Mr. Al said he'd start to teach me alchemy today," Selim explained. He knew that Ethan wouldn't find anything. There was nothing to find. It didn't help that every time he thought that though, it felt more and more like a lie.

"Alchemy huh? That's cool, I could never understand that complicated stuff. Maybe when I'm older, but I just don't get how circles and squares can make a rock turn into a balloon or something," the blonde boy said, having to readjust his grip on the dog leash again. Selim nodded, he was a little scared he wouldn't be able to understand it enough, but tried to block that thought from his mind.

"Yeah, it's really hard. Mr. Al said I probably wont be able to even try a transmutation before I leave, but I'm still very excited," Ethan nodded at him, and while he wanted to stay and talk to the other boy a little longer, it was clear that Mupples had other plans.

"Mmhm, well, I better get going. Mupples doesn't like to stay in one place too long on her walks. Tell me how the alchemy goes! And I'll keep looking, don't worry!" the blonde said happily as the grey dog started dragging him away down the yard. Selim nodded at him, just realizing and glad that Mupples hadn't been barking at him this time. Well, she knew him now, so that might be it.

"Alright I will. Thanks!" he called to the younger boy, who was now at the edge of the yard. Ethan nodded and waved at him before starting to run down the dirt road with his energetic dog. Closing the door, Selim walked back to the kitchen. That had been a pleasant surprise, even if Ethan hadn't found out anything.

Okay, so maybe he did hope that he could find something. It wasn't his fault, he didn't want his life to be strange, it just was. He wanted to figure it out so that it could turn normal, not go on some magical adventure like Ethan suggested. It didn't really matter right now though. In a few hours Mr. Al would be up and he would start to teach him alchemy. Maybe if he could help people with that when he grew up, they'd stop treating him so coldly.

Of course, he had to learn it first. Placing a few piece of bread in the toaster, he tried to go over everything he knew about the magical science in his head as to get ready for his first lesson.

Okay, maybe he did want a little magic in his life like Ethan, but could you really blame him. After all, he was only human.

* * *

Eggs eggs eggs eggs eggs eggs eggs. Haha, I hope you liked this chapter. Sorry he didn't start his training yet, but I wanted to make sure I got the part with Ethan in. Do you think it's going too slowly? I always worry about that.

Oh, and by the by, I know the whole 'alchemy started in the kitchen' thing was actually from the first anime. I think. But I wanted it in here, plus it still seems like a plausible little thing for people to say, at least those who didn't believe it came from some magic philosopher from the east. Well, please review :D


	12. Chapter 12

Greetings friends. The school year is almost over, so hopefully I'll have more time to write. That's how it works in theory, at least. Still have my finals to take and all, but my APs are over, so that takes a lot of the stress off. Well, enough about me, on with the plot.

Chapter 12

After eating a few pieces of toast, Selim waited on the couch in the front room, flipping through one of the books Mr. Al had left on the side table. It wasn't an alchemy book, but it was good enough to keep him occupied until Al woke up.

Around twenty minutes later the black haired boy started hearing the noises usually associated with a person waking up. After what felt like forever Alphonse came walking down the stairs, and Selim stood up off the couch to greet him. The young man still looked a bit tired, but he didn't seem surprised at all to find Selim up and waiting for him.

"Good morning, how long have you been up?" Al asked, and Selim quickly glanced over at the clock to check.

"Maybe a half hour," he said, not entirely sure how long he had spent talking to Ethan. He should probably mention that the blonde boy had stopped by too. Al simply nodded as he make his way into the kitchen in order to fix himself something to eat. Selim followed him, hoping he wasn't being a nuisance, but he'd already had been getting a bit bored alone waiting for him to wake up, and Mr. Al never really seemed to mind him being around.

"Want something to eat?" the blonde man asked, and Selim shook his head. He wasn't hungry again yet, so Al quickly made himself a simple breakfast. He could tell how excited Selim was to get started on his little training session, even if he hadn't actually said anything about it yet. The boy actually didn't say much of anything while he was eating, and that was just another thing that let him know how excited he was. Once he was done, Al stood up and smiled at the boy. "So, I take it you're ready to start learning alchemy?" He asked, and Selim nodded enthusiastically.

Al started towards his study, Selim following obediently. "How do we start?" he asked once they were there, and Al looked around the room in thought at the question.

"Hmm, well let's see. I don't have enough time to leave you alone on an island for a month, not to mention your mother would probably kill me," the blonde mumbled, earning a very confused stare from Selim. The black haired boy hadn't heard too much about Al's training, just that his teacher was a very serious and tough woman.

"Huh?" he asked worriedly, suddenly a little less excited about the training then he had been a moment ago. Al simply looked over at him and smiled reassuringly.

"Oh nothing. Don't worry, you don't know enough about alchemy for me to try and impose any serious training, I guess we should just start with the basics first," he said, causing Selim to visibly relax. Picking up one of the many books in the room, Al quickly flipped through the pages before closing it again and looking back to Selim. "You were reading this one yesterday, right? Introduction to Alchemy?"

Selim nodded, and Al sat down at his desk, motioning for the ten year old to join him. Selim pulled a stool up next to him and paid close attention as Mr. Al quickly flipped through the old book again before turning back towards him.

"Okay, let's start off simple. I know you've already started a bit of studying on your own, so can you tell me the most fundamental law of alchemy?" the blonde asked, and Selim nodded, quickly making sure he got the right name for the law in his head before actually saying it, he didn't want to get it wrong and make Al think he didn't know anything.

"Equivalent exchange," he said, and Alphonse nodded. Selim noticed that Mr. Al seemed a bit more serious then usual. He guessed that learning alchemist was a serious thing though.

"Good, now, can you explain to me exactly what that means?" the young man inquired. It didn't take Selim long to think of that at all, it was almost strange that Mr. Al was asking him, seeing as he had told him several times, as a sort of life lesson.

"One can not gain anything without first giving something in return. To obtain, something of equal value must be lost," he resisted from memory, and Al nodded approvingly.

"Right, and if you don't take that into account, any transmutation you attempt is bound to backfire. No matter how hard you try, you can not gain something from nothing, all that will happen is something you didn't want taken will be. That's very important," the blonde stressed, Selim listening intently the entire time. Even when he wasn't talking about alchemy, Mr. Alphonse seemed to use that rule to govern most of his life.

"Alright, let's head into something a bit less basic. Transmutation circles. They are what alchemist use to regulate the energy used in a transmutation, and depending on what circle you use, the results can be drastically different," the young man then started into their first real lesson, going through the Introduction to Alchemy book and using it to explain the different circles and what symbols were used decided how they would react. After several hours Selim was starting to have trouble keeping them all separated in his head, although when compared with the actual amount he would eventually need to learn, it didn't feel like many at all.

That didn't stop the excitement he was feeling as the two made their way from the study to the kitchen for lunch.

"So, how do you feel about all this so far? I'm not going too fast, am I?" Alphonse asked as the two began eating. Selim quickly shook his head as he swallowed his food before answering.

"No, you're not moving too fast. I really like this so far. Thank you for teaching me," the ten year old said happily, and Al smile at him from across the table.

"It's no problem, I'm glad to. I remember how excited I was when I first started learning alchemy, and then when I finally was able to get a teacher," the blonde said, and Selim nodded slowly as a thought came to his head at the mention of Mr. Alphonse's alchemy teacher.

"Um, Mr. Al?" he asked, and Al looked over at him for him to continue. "Should I call you teacher now? Because that's what you always called your alchemy teacher," he explained, and Al blinked a bit in surprise, taken back by the question.

"Huh, I hadn't really given it any thought before now…" the blonde man mumbled, more to himself then to Selim, before staring down at his plate in thought for a moment. The notion of being on the same level that Izumi had been to him for anyone was a strange concept, let alone for Selim. She had known what to do for any of there problems when they were starting out, and well after that as well. Of course, Selim already came to him with any most of his problems anyway, if he didn't go to his mother first. Thinking it over for a moment longer, Al shrugged slightly. "Call me whatever title you think I'm deserving of," he decided finally.

Selim nodded at that answer. It made sense, especially considering Al's normal humble attitude. Putting their empty plates into the sink, Alphonse turned towards the black haired boy.

"Why don't we take a break for now and start up again after dinner? Alchemy is a lot to take in and you don't want to overload yourself in the beginning," the young man suggested, and Selim nodded in agreement, before remembering something he had meant to tell Alphonse earlier.

"Um, Ethan stopped by before you woke up," he said, and Al turned towards him with an interested look.

"He did? Did he want something?" the blonde asked as the two walked into the living room and sat down. Selim shook his head, not about to tell him about the 'investigation' that the hyper boy was currently on.

"Not really, he was just walking his dog and wanted to see if I was awake and say hi, but the dog wouldn't let him stay very long," Selim explained, and Al smiled and nodded. He had to admit he was glad that the two were starting to become friends, even if Ed was a little wary. Selim needed more friends his own age, and Ed took regular enough trips to Central that with a bit of convincing it wouldn't be like he would never see Ethan again after the trip.

"Why don't you go see what he's up to now? You don't get many chances to play with kids your own age back home, do you? Plus I have some work of my own I need to attend to," Al said, and Selim nodded before getting up off the couch.

"Alright, Teacher Al," the ten year old said, then headed towards the door and put his shoes on. Al just had an amused look on his face the entire time. So he decided to call him teacher after all? It was a little strange, but it made sense. He was teaching him alchemy after all, and if he thought about it, he had already been starting to teach the boy some of the broader life lessons Izumi had gave him.

He had to admit, the title felt strangely nice for some reason, too.

Selim walked down the dirt path towards Mr. Edward's house, going through some of the different transmutation symbols in his head on the way. He wanted to be able to memorize it all quickly and show Teacher Alphonse that he was serious about learning. He knew the young man didn't really have any reason to doubt him, but he still wanted him to be proud.

Reaching the house, Selim was standing at the front door, working up the courage to knock when Ethan walked around from the other side of the house, preventing the black haired boy from actually having to.

"Hey Selim! Whatcha doing? Did Uncle Al teach you alchemy yet?" Ethan asked as he ran up towards the other boy. Selim smiled and nodded, glad that Ethan seemed interested and he actually had someone to talk to about it. Of course he would tell his mother all about it when he called her later today, but this was someone he could see and talk to in person.

"Yep, we just started with the very basics and stuff. Going over different types of transmutation circles and equivalent exchange and things like that," the older boy explained, and Ethan nodded.

"That's cool, is he a good teacher?" the blonde asked, and Selim nodded. He really was a good teacher, even though Selim had his doubts when he started mentioning leaving him on an island for a month. He wondered if Ethan knew anything about that, but decided that he'd save that question for later, if anything like that ever came up. "So, nothing else happened, did it?" Ethan asked as the two started walking back down the dirt path.

Selim shook his head, understanding what he meant. He had to admit, it was nice having someone to talk about the strange things that always bothered him with. Even though nothing had happened today, and he'd been dream free the night before, it was still always there, in the back of his mind, pricking at him that something was wrong.

Ethan sighed and nodded. "Yeah, I haven't been able to go back into the attic either, since my mom will probably hear me and I'll get in trouble again, but I don't know where else to look. I'd try the basement if we had one, but mom uses it as an automail workshop," Selim was glad the blonde was trying to help, but wondered just a bit about the methods he was using.

"What do you think you'd find in a basement or attic?" he asked, and Ethan looked at him as if it was obvious.

"Something that will help us figure out what's up. If there's one place where adults keep things they don't want you to find, it's behind a bunch of dusty cobwebs in a secret hole in the attic floorboards," he explained, and Selim guessed that made about as much sense as anything he could figure at. "Hey, maybe once you learn alchemy we can use that to try and figure out what's wrong," Ethan suggested, and Selim smiled and nodded.

It was a good plan, but the black haired boy had no idea how long it would take him to actually learn. He could wait though, he wasn't in any rush to figure out what those dreams and uneasy feelings meant anyway.

"Hey, what if you were actually the prince of the country?" Ethan asked, throwing out another one of his theories. Selim couldn't help but smile at that one, the energetic boy must not of thought it through too much.

"I kind of would be, if Amestris had a king, since I was adopted by the old ruler's wife," Selim said, causing Ethan to stop, running it over in his head.

"Oh yeah, I guess you would be… never mind then" the blonde said, continuing his way down the dirt road towards the river. Selim nodded and continued to follow him. No, he wasn't in any big rush to figure out what was going on, as long as the dreams didn't increase, it wouldn't be too hard to wait.

Of course, waiting would do nothing to get rid of the nagging in the back of his head, so he was very glad that the chances of Ethan stopping his search were very low indeed.

* * *

Yay, Selim's first alchemy lesson. I like the thought of Selim calling Al teacher, I just find it really cute for some reason. Well, it's officially 3am, so I should probably head to sleep. It's not summer yet, I can't screw up my sleep schedule completely.

If you like it, please review.


	13. Chapter 13

Hello all. It's really hot and only two weeks left until summer. I really wish it would just hurry up and get here, but time speeds for no man. Ah well, at least I got off for memorial day.

Chapter 13

After a few hours of hanging out with Ethan, Selim finally came back to Al's house. That had probably been the longest he'd ever been out without any adults watching him, and he still wasn't used to it. One thing he knew though was that he would not be very excited when he was back under guard back home.

Ethan told him he should just stay in Resembool, so he could stay away from the guards, learn alchemy and so Ethan wouldn't be as bored when he was gone. He had to admit, it was kind of tempting, but there was no way he could leave his mother and Shadow for that long, not to mention he would never actually be allowed in the first place.

Mr. Al wasn't in the living room or kitchen, but Selim was a bit too tired to really look around for him anywhere else. Ethan really could wear someone out fast. Everywhere he went he ran, and it took the black haired boy everything he could from keeping his friend from dragging him into the river with his clothes on. Maybe he would go in another day. He wasn't used to anything like the little fireball of a child, but it was still kind of nice.

"I see you're back, have fun?" Mr. Al asked as he walked down the stairs. Selim nodded tiredly as he sat on the couch. Al continued his way down the stares and into the kitchen, humming to himself the entire time. Selim couldn't help but think about how nice a tune it was. Made him wonder if the young adult could sing. He kind of remembered him singing to him when he was real little, when he had nightmares or something like that, but couldn't really remember how it had sounded.

"It's starting to get late, so I'll start dinner, how does that sound?" the blonde asked, and Selim nodded absently.

"Good," he mumbled, slowly switching from a sitting position to laying down on the soft couch. Maybe if he took a nap now, while Mr. Al was cooking dinner, he'd be awake enough to start up with his alchemy studies again after they were done like Al had said they could.

He wasn't sure how much later it was when he felt Mr. Al shaking him away gently. "Hey there sleepyhead, dinner's done," the blonde said, using the name he always called him when he was tired. Selim sat up rather slowly, rubbing at his eyes as he tried to bring himself out of his sleepy daze. Yawning slightly, he stood up after Al and started towards the kitchen. Whatever it was he'd cooked, it smelt delicious.

It turned out to be some sort of casserole, and it tasted as good as it smelt. Slowly the black haired boy started becoming more alert, the haze resting over his brain from the sleep starting to lift ever so slightly.

"So, do you think you'll be too tired to start training again after dinner?" Al asked, and Selim shook his head. That nap really had worked like he hoped it would.

"I'm fine, we can still train, can't we?" the black haired boy really hoped that Alphonse wouldn't change his mind, and much to his joy Al nodded. He wanted to be able to get in as much training as possible before he had to go back home, since Mr. Al lived so far away and visits weren't really that regular.

Soon the two placed their empty plates in the sink, and Al led the black haired boy back into his study. Sure, he was still a bit worn out from waking up so early and everything he'd done that day, but Selim was not able to give in before they did at least a minimal amount of training.

In the end they really hadn't been able to get that much done, at least in Selim's eyes. Mr. Al said that they had accomplished a lot for a day, so the child decided it would be best to just take his word for it, he was one of the best alchemist in the world, after all.

"Okay sleepyhead, I think it's best that you get off to bed now," the blonde said playfully, and Selim nodded as he tried to stifle a yawn. Obediently, he walked out of the study and to the spare room, quickly changed into his pajamas and crawled into bed. He instinctively grabbed the worn out armor stuffed toy and prayed that tonight he'd be lucky, and the nightmares would leave him be.

Selim groggily swatted away at whatever kept prodding him in the side. He didn't want to wake up, it was too early. Whatever it was just went from poking to shaking his shoulder, so the boy rolled towards the other wall.

"_Pssst! _Selim, wake up," someone whispered as they continued to shake the boy. Selim shook his head tiredly, never opening his eyes and pulling his blanket over his face just to get his point across. "Selim, c'mon! It's important," the whispering voice said, sounding a little annoyed and tired itself.

Selim opened his eyes slowly as a frown set onto his face. This was nothing like how Mr. Al would wake him up, or his mother… He quickly tried to still the panic in his heart as he sat up like a bullet to see who in the world was in his room.

"Eth-!" he wasn't able to get the full name out as the younger boy covered his mouth as quickly as he could, not letting go as he looked around the room to make sure no one had heard his startled friend. He still had a hand on his mouth as he shushed the black haired boy again. Selim was pretty sure he was able to start talking without letting him go, and decided to change that.

"Eww!" Ethan yelled, pulling his hand back as fast as he could and wiping it against his shirt. "Did you just lick me?" the shocked boy asked, and Selim simply shrugged, figuring the question had been mostly rhetorical.

"Why are you here? It's…" Selim glanced at the clock, barely managing to make out the time, "one o'clock in the morning!" he finished, only for Ethan to nod as if all this was normal and shush him for a second time.

"I know, now c'mon," the blonde whispered, starting towards the door. Selim didn't move from his spot on the bed, causing Ethan to stop in his tracks and head back over to him. "Well?" he asked, and all Selim could do was turn his head in confusion. What in the world did this boy think he was going to do?

"What do you mean, 'well?' What's going on?" He asked, and as quietly as he could Ethan brought over the chair from the spare room's desk and sat down before explaining whatever plan he had cocked up in his eight year old brain.

"Okay, you said you always have these dreams of weird things, and they seem real, right?" the blonde asked, and Selim nodded. "Well, I was thinking we could try and figure out the meaning of these dreams while everyone is asleep," Ethan suggested, as if this was the best plan in the world. Selim almost immediately started shaking his head, there was no way he was about to sneak out at night.

Ethan looked almost crushed at this, before changing his face to mild anger. "No? What do you mean 'no?" he asked.

"I can't sneak out, I'll get in trouble and be sent back home," Selim explained as if it was the simplest thing in the world, which to him it was. Sure, Mr. Al had never threatened him with being sent home, even after he had ran off once, but this was very different. This was running off at night, there was no way Mr. Al or his mother would let this slide, but Ethan didn't seem to get that as he shook his head.

"We wont get caught. No one heard me leaving my house or coming in here. Don't you want to find out what's wrong?" the blonde persuaded. Selim decided to stick by his decision despite this.

"How will sneaking out solve anything?" he asked, and Ethan gave him the same look he had earlier, when he'd asked why basements and attics were so special.

"It's not sneaking out. It's what we'll be doing. You can only find so much while the adults are watching, right?" the blonde asked, and Selim nodded reluctantly, "Right, so when no one's around would be the best time to go searching. Look, we wont get caught, I promise," Ethan said, and Selim was quiet for a few moments, thinking everything over. If he got caught, that would be the end to any and all searching he could ever do, but Ethan had promised they wouldn't, and okay, so maybe the reasoning behind it was a little childish, but that didn't mean it couldn't be right.

Looking back and forth between Ethan and the door, as if expecting Mr. Al to come in at any moment and punish them both, Selim sighed softly to himself. The pricking in the shadows of his mind were getting stronger, as if telling him to go searching, there was something there, and only he could find out what it was.

"O-okay, and you swear we won't get caught?" Selim decided reluctantly, and Ethan energetically nodded.

"Of course not, now come on," the blonde said happily, and Selim quietly crawled off his bed and put on his shoes, following Ethan slowly down the stairs and to the back door. Apparently Al never locked it in case of emergencies.

Once outside Ethan switched on a flashlight that Selim hadn't noticed before, and started heading down the path. The black haired boy made sure to follow as closely as he could, not used to the darkness that surrounded him. He didn't really tend to go outside during the night, and the few times he had it had been in the well lit city.

"So… what are we looking for?" Selim asked after a few minutes of walking down the path towards the forest. Ethan's casual shrug didn't reinforce his decision to come out here at all.

"You tell me, this is about your dreams and weird feelings after all. Where do _you_ think we should look?" the blonde said, and Selim stopped walking as he thought the question over. It did make sense, how would Ethan know where to go? But the thing was, he didn't know what to do either. Most of his dreams were in places he'd never seen before, like huge cement tunnels or a room under ground. The only thing that truly connected them were the people in it, and those terrifying shadows…

"The forest…" the black haired boy decided finally, beginning to lead his friend towards the intimidating black trees in the distance. One of his dreams had taken place in a forest, and while he was almost positive it wasn't the same one, it was the closest thing he had to connect him to anything.

"The forest, huh? That's a good choice. You never know what could happen in the forest," Ethan said happily, making sure to shine his light so that they both had just enough to see. Selim nodded absently, his mind trying to sort out his own tangled thoughts.

They couldn't stay very long, he wanted to be able to get back well before Mr. Al had any chance of finding out he had left, and who knows what dangerous things could be stalking the forests at night. At the very least there were probably foxes all over the place, and raccoons. Selim was never very good with any animals but Shadow, although Ethan seemed to have a bit better luck, even if he couldn't really control Mupples all that well.

As they reached the forest Ethan padded up besides him, looking around cautiously. "Hey, are you sure this is where we should start looking for clues? I mean, what could you find in a forest besides trees and rocks?" the blonde asked, trying to hide the smidge of fear lacing his voice. Selim simply nodded though, the long shadows created by the flashlight and the trees not bothering him in the least.

"Yeah, this is it. I'm sure we'll find something, if it's here," Selim said, before starting into the trees, this time Ethan the one following close behind. It was strange, the voice inside of him kept pressuring him to go searching farther and farther, until he found whatever it was he was looking for.

He wasn't about to go against it.

* * *

Tadaa, stuff appears to be happening. What does this mean? The plots about to become more apparent to Selim, I guess. Also, Ethan is all talk and no action. Kid's been sheltered all his life, no where near the amount that Selim's been, but he doesn't have an ancient and powerful soul resting inside him.

Well, I hope you liked it and please review.


	14. Chapter 14

Hey, hey, hey! Schoooool's out for summer! Haha, okay, enough of that. It's my second official day of break, and so I have time to write. I also have even more AP summer work then last year, but with my level of procrastination there's no way I'm starting it this early. I need at least a week of being a complete bum (and apparently bums are enthusiastic fan fiction writers.)

Well, here's the next chapter for y'all. I'm kind of excited for this one, let's hope it comes out the way it's planned in my head.

Chapter 14

The two children cautiously walked farther and farther into the forest. Ethan would swing the flashlight around in front of them, in order to get a better view of anything up ahead, causing the long shadows of the trees to sway along with them. It was creepy, and yet almost mesmerizing to Selim.

"S-so, how far do you think we should go?" Ethan asked after a few moments, and Selim shrugged after thinking about it. He really had no idea, he figured they should just walk until they either found something, or it was time for them to go back, or Selim thought of a different, better place to check out. He didn't really think the last one was going to happen though.

"A little bit farther. You still know where we are, right?" he said, and looked back when the flashlight beam stopped its normal rotation. It was hard to see the blonde in the dark, since he was pointing their only light source away from him, but Selim could just make out his outlined form. He was looking at the ground, and not at him, something Selim did not find as a very good sign.

"kinda…" he mumbled after a bit, and that was probably the one thing Selim definitely didn't want to hear, besides maybe, 'there's a rabid raccoon behind you!'

"Um, what do you mean, kinda?" he asked, hoping maybe Ethan was just joking, or something like that. He seemed to be the kind of kid who jokes a lot, and plus, Ethan had lived by this forest his entire life, and he didn't seem to have any trouble finding his way around during the day. The way he was avoiding eye contact with Selim though was not helping to reinforce any of these theories.

"Well, I've never been out here at night before. It looks a lot different…" he said, glancing around slightly, before turning back to Selim. The black haired boy wasn't sure, but he thought that Ethan was starting to smile now. "No worries though! I'm _almost_ positive the way back is this way, so we should keep going!" Ethan said, his happy tone back. Selim wasn't entirely sure he believed it, but decided to just nod and trust him.

"Alright, then let's go," the older boy said, starting to lead the way once again. They weren't going to go very far, it wouldn't be too hard to find their way back. They just had to leave themselves with a little extra time just in case something went wrong, and they got a little lost.

"Soooo… anything yet?" Ethan asked, after maybe five more minutes of walking through the forest, trying not to trip over tree roots and fallen branches. Selim shook his head yet again. He had no idea how long he should go before just giving it up as a lost cause. Really, what were the chances of him finding something in a forest in a town he'd never even been to before. It was a foolish idea.

Once again, the regular swing of the flashlight beam was halted, and Selim stopped to look back at his friend. It was rather annoying with him being behind their light, so that he couldn't see what he was doing, or if something was wrong.

"Etha-" before he could finish the name, the blonde haired boy shushed him, just like back in his room, and swung the flashlight just slightly, as if to illuminate something specific. Cautiously, Selim turned around to see just what it was that was making Ethan act so strange, as if he wasn't already odd enough.

"Selim… don't… move…" the blonde whispered slightly, and Selim didn't need to be told twice. Sure, it was a little more subtle, and definitely less terrifying then 'there's a rabid raccoon behind you!' but it still didn't make him feel any better at the glowing eyed rodents that almost seemed to be glaring at him.

"Ethan… what do we do? Animals don't like me… Ethan?" Selim asked, afraid to turn his back to the trio of raccoons that were slowly starting to approach them. Selim could see their teeth gleaming in the beam of light. They were snarling at them.

"Just relax. If we don't move… they might just go away…" the blonde said hopefully, but Selim didn't believe him one bit. Animals never liked him… Shadow was an exception, he had her since she was a kitten, and even when she was little, she used to bite him all the time. He could only think of those tiny teeth and claws that the newborn kitten had pricked at him with being replaced by the sharp weapons these rodents had. Well, he was pretty sure a raccoon was a rodent, but he really didn't care if he was wrong at the moment.

Before either boy was able to think of a plan besides 'stand there and hope the raccoons get bored' the animals started to lunge forwards without warning. Selim started to scream, and he was pretty sure Ethan did too. The last thing he saw before squeezing his eyes shut to wait for the pain was what must have been Ethan dropping the flashlight, the beam that had illuminated the beasts shooting down amongst the leaves.

Selim vaguely noticed a rushing sensation. It almost felt as if his soul was running out of his feet, and he really had no clue what to think about it, not that he really could, too focused on the pain that was about to engulf him. After what felt like an eternity of slow motion fear and waiting for your life to flash before your eyes, he slowly started to open his. The raccoons were just… gone.

"E-Ethan… are you okay?" Selim asked quietly, slowly turning back to look and make sure they hadn't decided to just eat his friend. Ethan slowly opened his own eyes, and looked up at the black haired boy before nodding just slightly, the confusion he felt shining in the bright blue eyes Selim could just barely make out.

"What happened?… where'd the raccoons go?" the blonde asked, and Selim could only shrug as he bent down to pick of the discarded flashlight.

"I don't know… they were just here," Selim said shakily, sweeping the light around the area in front of them, just to make sure that they really were gone. He didn't see anything… it made no sense.

"Hey…" Ethan said after Selim had swung the light around a few times. "Shine the light over there, by that tree," the blonde said, and Selim complied, although he couldn't really make out whatever it was Ethan must of saw. The blonde walked over to it cautiously, before stopping. It was hard to tell in the lowlight, but Selim was pretty sure Ethan had gotten paler.

"Selim… you should come and see this…" the younger boy said as he stared at the ground, and Selim was almost scared to comply, but slowly started to make his way over despite this. When he stopped next to the blonde, he pointed down towards the ground. "there…" he mumbled, and Selim pointed his flashlight in order to get a better look at whatever it was Ethan was staring at.

It was… a part of one of the raccoons… not the whole raccoon… just a part. It kind of looked like a leg, and a part of the chest. Selim suddenly felt very light headed, and had to grip the tree next to him for support. It looked like his dream… the cut up people… it looked just like it… he felt like he was going to puke, and severely wished that he had never let Ethan talk him into coming out here in the first place. He didn't want to know what had did this, even if it had saved his and his friend's life.

"We should get out of here…" Ethan said after a few moments of silence, and all Selim could do was nod lightly. They had to get out of here. He didn't want to be anywhere near any of this again. The younger boy lightly grabbed his arm, and started leading him away, back towards the direction that they were _almost positive_ was the way home.

It took maybe an hour of wondering the forest before they finally landed on the path that led to the small farming town. Selim didn't let go of Ethan the entire time, but thankfully nothing else had happened on the way back. They hadn't talked though, and it was quiet. Too quiet, unnaturally quiet.

Once out of the dark and silent forest, the two boys sprinted as fast as their legs could take them towards Alphonse's house, the panic they felt finally showing itself once they knew they were safe. It didn't take long for the two to collapse at the back door, out of breath, exhausted and terrified.

"I don't think… we should do that again…" Ethan said, the first time either had spoken in over an hour. Selim just nodded, very glad the boy had some common sense, and wasn't just out for the thrills. They could of gotten killed or seriously hurt and possibly sick, it if wasn't for… whatever had saved them. Selim didn't want to think about it, he didn't want to know what was going on anymore. He was just barely managing to hold back tears at this point, and he was pretty sure Ethan had noticed.

"Hey… I think it'd be good if you went back to bed. This… wasn't a very good idea, I think. We can talk about it tomorrow… in the light," the younger boy said, and all Selim could do was nod in agreement and hand the flashlight back over. Slowly the two stood back up, and Ethan did his best to try and smile and cheer up his terrified new friend at least a little bit.

"W-well, see you tomorrow," he said hesitantly, and Selim nodded slightly as the younger boy started to make his way back towards his own house.

"Okay… be careful," the black haired boy said, and Ethan just nodded and waved at him from a distance, before starting to run towards his own house, which Selim was just able to make out in the dark. Shaking his head, Selim quietly opened the back door, and closed it, trying his best to not make any sounds that would wake up Al.

After what felt like an eternity and every little creak sounding like an explosion to his ears, Selim managed to make it back to his room and close the door. He immediately ran over to his bed and hid himself under the covers, clinging to the stuffed armor toy as if his life depended on it.

Those shadows weren't real. They weren't real. They weren't real. He just had to keep telling himself that, but the perfectly sliced raccoon piece kept reappearing in his mind until he could barely breath. It was just like his dream, but it couldn't be real.

If that part of his dreams were real, then what _else_ could be true? Who's to say it all wasn't. A shudder went down his back, and he pulled the old toy closer to him.

It just couldn't be real. Monsters weren't real and he was just a normal kid. No matter how much he tried though, he couldn't stop thinking of that statement as a lie. Normal kids don't have guards twenty four seven. Normal kids don't have strange 'birthmarks' on their heads. Normal kids don't make adults feel like they let the enemy in the house, and normal kids didn't have dreams about death and destruction and shadows with eyes and teeth that could rip things apart so precisely, it was like a surgical knife.

No matter what he told himself, he wasn't a normal kid, and all he could do was cry and try his best not to be heard.

* * *

Yay. Chapter done. One thing though… while I was writing this, I noticed that the part with the raccoons was a bit similar to a scene in Attention2Detaille's story, Sin's Child. Sorry Detaille, I didn't mean to, and I really wanted it and figured that it was different enough that it wasn't too bad. I hope you don't mind.

Also, raccoons are freakin scary. I once had a dream that one was at my window with a knife, and was gonna kill me. I don't care if they look like little robbers, robbers are scary too.  
Well, I hope you liked it, and please review.


	15. Chapter 15

Hey y'all, new chapter time. One thing I have to say before we start though is that Attention2Detaille pointed out that since Amestris is based off the England/Europe, raccoons don't actually live there. Looks like I exposed myself as an ignorant American again, whoops XD Anyway, should have done the research beforehand, and now I don't know if I should go back and change it to something more appropriate, like a badger (badger badger badger **mushroom! Mushroom!**) I probably should, but I don't want people to get confused. I think I'm gonna keep it as is for now, and hope no one minds my little geographical mix-up.

Chapter 15

When Selim awoke the next morning, it was quite a bit later then he normally would, not that he suspected anything different to happen. He wasn't sure when he'd finally managed to fall asleep, but it hadn't happened very quickly, that was for sure. He was a little surprised that Mr. Al hadn't attempted to wake him up yet, and prayed that Ethan hadn't been caught when going back home. He wasn't too sure how well the boy would do if put under some sort of interrogation.

When he went downstairs, Mr. Al was sitting on the living room couch, drinking some Xing tea and reading a book. He smiled as he looked up from the book to the boy, and closed it.

"Hey there sleepyhead, finally coming out of your coma?" he asked playfully, and Selim just nodded, staring at the ground as he continued his way down the stairs. His mind kept replaying what had happened last night. He wanted to tell Mr. Alphonse, to be able to trust him with what was going on, but as much as he cared about the young adult and looked up to him, he couldn't. Whispered conversations and ragged dreams wouldn't let him, and he hated it.

"Hey… is everything okay?" the blonde man asked, looking the young boy up and down a few more times. He didn't look too good really, but Selim just nodded his head.

"I'm fine Mr. Teacher Al," he mumbled, but it only made Alphonse's frown deepen. He didn't sound fine, he sounded completely worn out, even he could hear it, there was no way that Al didn't. He didn't like lying to him, but he'd do it if he needed to. The only thing was that if he got caught, it wouldn't be good at all. He wasn't worried about getting grounded like normal kids, like Ethan would if he got caught, but he had no idea what his punishment would be. Surely Mr. Al or his mother wouldn't do it to him, but there were others who would, although he still had no idea why. Or how.

"I don't think so. Come here, are you sick?" Mr. Alphonse asked, and Selim just shook his head, but came over none the less. He wasn't sick, physically, that is. He sat down next to the older man on the couch, who preceded to turn the black haired boy towards him, and kept his hands on his shoulders as he looked him over close up.

"Okay, what's wrong?" he asked, but Selim just shook his head again, although it seemed feeble and just plain weak. He was usually so good at faking too, but last night had shaken him up so much.

"I'm fine, please Mr. Al, I'm just tired," he said again, and Al slowly took his hands off of the boy's shoulders before sighing lightly under his breath. He could tell it wasn't the truth, but he wasn't going to press him. Just like always, he'd let him be and come to him on his time, no matter how much he wanted to know.

"Alright… alright. Well, how about we get you some breakfast, you must be hungry," the young man said finally, and all Selim could do was nod weakly. He knew that Mr. Al knew he was lying, and he felt terrible because of it. It was like he'd let him down, and he didn't want that at all.

"Mr. Al…" the black haired boy started, not too sure on what he was going to say. He wasn't going to tell him what happened, but he wanted to say something. Al turned to him, his eyebrow raised slightly.

"Yes?" he asked, and Selim could tell that he was hoping that maybe he would tell him what it was, and felt bad that he couldn't. If he could, he would tell him everything about those terrible dreams that made him something other then a normal little boy, but Mr. Al was in those dreams too. Only his voice, but he was still there.

"I'm sorry," he said quietly, and Al smiled at him, before shaking his head.

"You don't have to be sorry, whatever it is I-" before he could finish his sentence several loud bangs came from the front door, effectively stopping him and causing Selim to flinch which each one. Whoever it was did not sound happy. "Well, I wonder who that could be?" Mr. Al said, attempting to sound excited and not scared.

The young man walked over to the door and opened it. When Selim saw who it was he could feel his stomach drop. "Oh, um, hello Winry? And Ethan?" he said as the angry woman pushed her son inside. Ethan shot Selim an apologetic look while mouthing the word 'sorry' before Winry gave him one last final shove inside.

"So, what brings you here?" Alphonse asked as he looked between the two boys. Ethan looked tired too, but not in the same way that Selim did. He just looked like he hadn't slept, and worried.

"I caught Ethan sneaking in through the backdoor at 2 o'clock in the morning last night," Winry said angrily, and the boy in question just continued to stare at the ground. Selim couldn't keep himself from cringing as what he feared was happening became a reality, this was just great. Al looked at the two before turning back towards Winry.

"Um, don't you think it would be better if you brought this up with Ed? Unless there's something else I should know," Al said, quickly glancing towards Selim, who cringed under his gaze yet again. He knew, even if Mrs. Elric said absolutely nothing, he already knew. She did say something though, as she started to nod.

"Oh I was going to, but he begged me not to, and I thought I'd get your advise on the matter, seeing as he wasn't alone," the blonde woman said, and all Selim could do was stare at the floor. Ethan just gulped and started twiddling his thumbs.

"It slipped out…" he mumbled, but the older boy didn't care much at this point. It wasn't Ethan's fault, he never should have let him talk him into sneaking outside in the first place.

"Oh I see," Al said, before sighing and shaking his head. "What happened?" he asked, staring down at the two boys. Before Selim had the chance to say anything, not that he knew what to say, Ethan jumped in.

"Don't blame Selim! It wasn't his fault, it was all my idea! Don't send him back home, he didn't want to go, I talked him into it!" the eight year old said quickly, and Al and Winry quickly shared a small look before turning back towards the children. Selim didn't know what to do. He didn't want Ethan to take all the blame, because he didn't deserve it, but once again before he got the chance to speak, Mr. Al started up.

"First of all, I never said anything about sending Selim back home," both boys couldn't help but feel a bit more relieved after that, but Alphonse didn't stop, "however, I do want to know exactly what happened last night, and why you two decided to do this in the first place. Selim, I know you know better," he said, and Selim just nodded, not looking him in the eyes. He didn't know what to tell them though. He just hoped beyond hope that Ethan wouldn't, or hadn't yet mentioned the raccoons and what became of them.

"It was stupid! I just thought it'd be cool to sneak out at night, but it wouldn't be any fun alone…" the blonde boy said, and Selim was genuinely surprised. Ethan really wasn't going to tell anybody why they were outside. Hopefully he wouldn't ruin it.

"Well? I know you wouldn't be talked into doing something like this so easily, Selim?" Mr. Al said, and the black haired boy just stared at the ground, rubbing his foot on the hardwood, trying to think of what he could possibly say.

"I just… Ethan said we wouldn't get caught… and I never get to do anything back home… it sounded fun…" he mumbled, hoping it sounded believable. From the way Al sighed and nodded, he guessed it did. For some reason though, it just made him feel even more guilty. Even if it wasn't even a total lie. There had been some appeal in sneaking out and having fun with a friend, and acting like a normal boy, even if they were trying to find things that weren't normal. Before those animals had showed up, it had been a little scary, but it was also kind of fun.

"Alright… okay. I see," the older man said, seeming to almost be having some sort of internal debate with himself. "I wont tell your mother, but you are going to be punished… I have to think of how to do that first…" Al said, mumbling the last part to himself. Winry just nodded before turning towards her son.

"C'mon, your grounded," She said, but Ethan didn't move just yet.

"Wait! You're not going to tell dad, are you?" he asked, a worried tone to his voice. The blonde woman just raised her eyebrow and crossed her arms as she stared down at him.

"And why shouldn't I? He's your father, he should know why you're grounded," she said, but Ethan just shook his head vigorously before starting.

"He can't know! He already doesn't like Selim, he'll get mad!" he said, causing his mother to raise her eyebrow in confusion yet again, and Al to frown. Selim could feel his stomach dropping out for the second time. Please don't let him reveal anything. Please don't let them find out he's suspicious.

"What do you mean he doesn't like Selim?" his mother asked, and Ethan just seemed to become aware of what he'd said, staring down at the ground after she has asked.

"He always acts weird when uncle Al talks about him… and I heard you two talking yesterday, about how you didn't want me hanging around him too much…" the blonde mumbled, and Selim's head almost whipped towards him. He hadn't said anything about his parents saying they didn't want him around, even if he'd already managed to figure that out from body language. Although, from the look on Mrs. Elric's face though, it didn't seem like he was lying.

"O-oh, that…" she said, not able to think of an acceptable reason as to why they wouldn't want their son being friends with a kind, quiet and studious boy like him. It really didn't make sense. Selim stole a glance at Mr. Alphonse. He looked worried, and almost sad, kind of like he thought something like this would happen eventually. Before Winry could think of what else to say, Ethan started up again.

"Why shouldn't I be friends with Selim? He's really nice, and uncle Al likes him too! I don't get it!" he yelled, pouting and showing his age perfectly. Selim just gulped and started messing with his figures. It was getting very awkward the longer it took the adults to answer, and when they did, it wasn't exactly very satisfying, but surprisingly, it wasn't Ms. Winry either, it was Al.

"Look, Ethan, it's complicated…" the blonde man started, and the young boy quickly rounded on him.

"Not you too! I thought you liked Selim!" he said, and Al quickly shook his head, his hands up in a sort of defense.

"I do! I've been watching over him since he was two years old, I couldn't not like him. No one's saying that you shouldn't be friends with him," he said, and Ethan seemed to calm down a little bit. "I actually think it's a great idea, as long as you two don't pull anymore stunts like this," he added. "But, there are some things that you wouldn't understand. Things that don't actually involve either of you, and that truthfully, you shouldn't have to worry about at all," he said, although neither boy looked satisfied.

Before Ethan could interject again, Alphonse continued. "I know that's not the answer you want, but it's the only one I can give you. Don't start bugging your parents about it either," The eight year old seemed to deflate a little at the command, but didn't try and argue anymore.

Finally, Winry seemed to get back in control of the situation enough to speak again. "I'm still going to tell your father," she said, causing Selim to cringe and Ethan to look like he was bout to start another argument, "but, it's not going to be about Selim. You're already grounded, so you can't see _any_ friends. Al's right, what you heard has nothing to do with him," she finished, but Ethan just looked confused.

"But you were talking about him!" he said, but Winry just shook her head and grabbed his shoulder.

"We'll talk about this later, we're going home." She said, before turning back just slightly. "Bye Al, I'll see you later," Al just nodded and waved bye to the two of them.

"Bye uncle Al, bye Selim," Ethan mumbled, and Selim just nodded.

"Bye Ethan… Bye Mrs. Elric," he said, and soon the two were out the door, and it was once again just Selim and Alphonse left in the room. The black haired boy didn't know what to do or say, just waiting for Al to tell him what his punishment was.

"Well, let's get you some breakfast," the young man said, as if none of that had even happened. Selim just stared at him, absolutely amazed. Al just chuckled awkwardly and shook his head.

"I know, but you still haven't eaten. We can figure out what to do about your little late night adventure after you get some food in your stomach," he said, and Selim just nodded and followed him into the kitchen. As the blonde started looking around the cabinets for something suitable to feed him, Selim decided that if he would ever get the chance to just ask him directly what this was all about, then now would be the time to do so.

"Mr. Al…" he mumbled, and Al just nodded to let him know that he was listening. "Why don't Mr. Ed and Ms. Winry like me? What I do wrong?" he asked, and Al just closed the cabinets slowly before turning towards him.

"Nothing, you didn't do anything wrong. I already said, it doesn't have anything to do with you, not really. It's just grown up things that I can't explain," he said, and Selim frowned. It wasn't fair. Why couldn't he know? He _knew_ it had to do with those dreams, with that cut up animal and strange feelings, but no one would explain it to him, even when it was right in front of his face, he couldn't know.

"B-but!" he said, but Mr. Al just shook his head, and Selim stopped. It wasn't fair. He knew that he said last night that he didn't want to know what this was all about, but when the answer was hanging in front of him, he couldn't help but feel terrible when it just kept getting pulled away again and again and again.

Sighing, Mr. Alphonse turned back towards the food in order to make him something to eat. He wasn't hungry though, but he knew that bothering Mr. Al wasn't going to make him tell him whatever it was he was hiding at all.

So he just traced the lines in the wooden table with him figures, awaiting whatever food he was going to be served that he would just pick at, and his punishment, whatever that was going to be. Mr. Al had never punished him before, he'd never had to. Maybe coming to Resembool wasn't a good idea after all.

Remembering the way Ethan enthusiastically dragged him around the town, all the plants and animals he'd never seen before, and just being out of the stifling presence of his ever present guards, he shook his head. It was worth it. Just being able to pretend he was a normal kid for once.

Even if it meant loosing the hope that he was having to pretend at all.

* * *

Yay done. It's 4:30 in the morning too. Fun. Summer, whatya expect? I need to leave my room now and go sleep on the couch. Spiders… this is happening increasingly often. Eh, summer, whatya expect?


	16. Chapter 16

Hello people. I'm back again. Been a little bit of a wait, so sorry about that. Well, I'm being very boring today, so how about we just skip to the chapter, shall we? If I keep talking it'll probably just end up being about ponies (totally not a female brony, what gave you that idea?)

Chapter 16

After breakfast Selim and Alphonse sat awkwardly in the kitchen, the young man trying to think of a suitable punishment for Selim, but kept running into the same problem. He wanted Selim to have fun while he was here, and punishing him was the opposite of fun.

"Ohhh," the blonde sighed, causing Selim to look at him a bit confused. He was just too soft, that was how he got into this whole situation in the first place. Stealing a glance at the black haired boy across from him, he tried to think of what he could do. He knew that Selim was excited to be here, and he didn't want to upset him, but he couldn't let himself be seen as a pushover either.

"Um, Mr. Alphonse?" the black haired boy asked, catching Al's attention quite quickly.

"Yes, what's wrong?" he answered, wondering slightly if he still wanted to know what was meant by Ed and Winry earlier. That was bothering Al too, but not just because Selim had found out completely about their unease, which he knew the child had at least suspected before. He couldn't believe that they had talked about something like that with Ethan in earshot. Sure, they probably didn't know he was there, and Al himself had doubts sometimes, not much anymore though, but they still should have been more careful. He was just glad that Ethan hadn't decided to stick to whatever his parents said and actually try to befriend Selim regardless.

"Are you gonna punish me now?" the child asked, snapping Alphonse out of his thoughts, and he nodded.

"Yes, yes. Um, you can't go outside for the next two days, but don't worry, I'm sure there's still quite a bit we can do that's fun inside," the blonde man said, receiving a rather befuddled look from Selim.

"Two days?" he asked, sounding a bit skeptical and surprised, to say the least.

"Does that seem too long? Just one day then?" Al said, already starting to reconsider his decision. Selim quickly shook his head, not believing what was going on. He knew Mr. Al was nice and never had to punish him before, but this was pushing it just a little bit.

"N-no! Two days is fine. I was just a little surprised it was so short," the ten year old said quickly, before Al could cancel the whole grounding. It wasn't that he didn't want to go back outside, but he'd feel guilty if he didn't get at least something, especially since Ethan was probably having a much harsher punishment back home. Al looked at Selim for a moment, before blinking and thankfully seeming to regain a bit of his confidence in the situation.

"Right, sorry about that," the blonde said before looking around the room, a smirk starting to form on his face. "Well, I don't have any plans today, and since you're not allowed outside, I think it would be a perfect time to get some more alchemy practice in, what do you think?" Alphonse asked, and Selim's face practically lit up like a light.

"Really? We can do that?" the black haired boy asked, and Al nodded. Selim couldn't believe how kindly Mr. Alphonse treated him sometimes. It almost made him forget about the nagging thoughts or feelings of unease. Almost.

"Of course," the young man said, and led a very excited Selim back to his study. As long as it kept his mind off of everything, at least for a few hours, then Al would be satisfied. He didn't need to be thinking about things like that. He believe what he said when he told them it had nothing to do with him. It couldn't, not after all these years of caring for him. Something would have happened by now.

Once again the two worked until stopping for lunch, going at a much faster rate then Al had originally expected. It made sense though, if he really thought about it, although he didn't particularly want to.

"How am I doing, Mr. Teacher Al?" Selim asked once they were eating. Al had told him that he was doing very well, but he still wasn't too sure. He knew that it would take a long time, much longer then he could spend with Al, to actually get good enough for an actual transmutation, so he guessed he was being a little impatient, even if he was trying not to be.

"Great, you'll be an alchemist before you know it," the blonde said, and Selim smiled and nodded. He definitely wasn't minding having to stay inside, especially since alchemy was so good at distracting him from what was going on.

Before he knew it they were back in the study, and had worked quite late for the ten year old's standards. Al still seemed very awake, but was ushering him off to bed none the less. Selim wasn't about to start complaining though, he basically wasn't getting any sort of punishment for last night, and his brain was definitely tired.

Once in his room and resting in bed, he tried to go over what Mr. Al had earlier. That none of this had anything to do with him, and that it was 'grown up stuff'. He knew that wasn't true though. Last night had proven that to him beyond a shadow of a doubt.

Selim shuddered slightly at the thought of what had happened. Even though he didn't see it, that just made it all the worse, leaving his imagination to fill in the details. Before he really wanted to his eyes began to droop close, and it wasn't long until he was fast asleep.

Ethan sat in his room alone, glaring at the nearest wall. Every so often his sister would come along, stick her head in the door and make a face at him. After about four times though, their parents made her stay away, much to Ethan's thanks. If he was going to be stuck inside for a week, he'd like to do it without being mocked. The blonde frowned slightly at the time frame. He wasn't even sure if Selim would still be here in a week.

It was getting late though, his mother had already brought him dinner, but the eight year old couldn't stop thinking about what happened that morning. Besides being caught and slipping it to his mother that he'd been with Selim, he had found proof that there really was something going on with the strange black haired boy.

Well, maybe not proof, but there was definitely something there when Uncle Al had said 'it' didn't concern them. That meant 'it' had to exist. Plus, there was the whole thing with what happened in the forest last night.

Ethan cautiously looked out his window at the thought. Something had completely _destroyed_ those animals. That wasn't normal. He really wished he hadn't closed his eyes like he did, so he could see what it was that saved them. Maybe that was the things that Selim was looking for?

If it was something that protected though, then why did his parents not like him? At least they hadn't said he couldn't be friends with him. None of this made any sense and it wasn't letting him sleep.

Frowning slightly, he looked back out his window. It faced the forest, and he could just barely make it out in the moonlight. There was something out there, and it was his duty as a volunteer detective to find out what. Gulping slightly, he did have to remind himself that maybe whatever it was could wait until morning. Only he wouldn't be allowed outside in the morning for the next week, and he couldn't remember if Selim would even still be here then.

Bracing himself, the eight year old quickly got dressed in a t-shirt and shorts, grabbing the flashlight that was still on his nightstand. He wasn't scared, Selim had gone into the forest just fine last night, and he was a sheltered city kid. Opening his window, extremely grateful for his room being on the ground floor, he gracelessly let himself fall into a heap in the dirt.

Picking himself up and switching the light on, he glanced back towards his house. It was eleven o'clock, but his parents probably wouldn't be checking in on him for the rest of the night. No one would suspect him to sneak out two nights in a row. It was the perfect plan.

He wasn't going to get Selim this time. They'd let it slide for him once, but he didn't think he'd be able to get the older boy to sneak out twice. He was too worried about rules for that. Well, it didn't matter, he could figure out what was going on by himself, and he didn't want his friend to get in trouble again anyway.

Quickly he ran towards the forest, trying to remember everything that he heard his parents say and what uncle Al had said. It didn't really reveal anything yet, but that was why he was out here, to find clues.

After a few minutes he reached the spot, or at least he was pretty sure it was the spot, where they'd been attacked the night before. Cautiously, he started over to where he'd found the raccoon… part.

It wasn't there anymore. Some animal must of came along and ate it, or he was in the wrong clearing. He didn't think that was it though. Sighing, he decided to head farther into the woods, practically squeezing the life out of his flashlight with each sound and twitch the nighttime woods made.

He wasn't afraid or anything. There wasn't anything scary about the dark. No, no, he just had to be cautious. Of animals, or else something might happen to him like it almost did the night before. He wasn't scared though, definitely not.

"Ahhh!" the blonde shirked, blue eyes peeled back wide, tripping when something snagged his foot, causing him to fall face first onto the ground. Making sure he still had his flashlight, Ethan quickly pushed himself up and started running in the first direction he could, stumbling all over the place but somehow managing to not fall for a second time.

"I'm not scared… I'm not scared… I'm not scared…" he repeated to himself once he finally came to a stop, panting like crazy and leaning against a tree for support. Slowly he started to calm down, swinging his flashlight about to try and figure out just where he'd run off to.

A sinking feeling dropped right down into his stomach when he didn't spot any sort of trail, or familiar markings or even tell with way he'd come from. That was okay, he could… he could follow the moon. Or something. He couldn't be that far from home, and it still wasn't too late. He could get back before anyone noticed.

After maybe another half hour of walking Ethan tripped once more, but didn't shoot off running because of it. Instead he pushed himself into a sitting position, desperately trying to think of the way back. He wasn't scared though.

Deciding to go with his earlier idea, he latched his eyes onto the moon and started following it's path, even if he had no idea how that was suppose to bring him home.

Ethan wasn't sure how much longer it was when, keeping his eyes towards the sky, he slipped right into a runoff stream from what he could only guess was deeper up the mountain or the river.

"Urg!" he yelled, quickly pulling himself out of the chilled water and wiping at his face. Almost instantly did he realized what was wrong, quickly looking around for the beam of his now missing flashlight. To the child's horror it wasn't anywhere in sight, most likely having fallen in the water and breaking.

Dragging himself away from the water, the blonde boy unsuccessfully tried to keep himself from crying. He wasn't scared. He was just cold, and wet and lost and he wanted to go home. Curling into a ball the eight year old allowed himself to start crying unobstructed, the terror of the situation fully sinking in with the loss of his only light.

Slowly Ethan fell into a fitful sleep, trying to convince himself that he could find his way home in the morning, or that someone would find him. Someone had to find him. He wasn't even able to find something to help with Selim's problem, he'd be so upset.

The next morning Selim woke up in a rather good mood for someone being punished. He hadn't had one nightmare while he slept, and really all his grounding amounted to was more time to practice alchemy with Mr. Alphonse. Sure he was a little disappointed about not being able to see Ethan, but he'd still wouldn't be able to see him, since he was grounded too.

Walking down the stairs he saw that Mr. Al was already cooking something in the kitchen. He had told the truth when he said he wasn't going to tell his mother, not having mentioned it once when he'd called her last night.

"Hey there Selim, how'd you sleep last night?" the blonde man asked as Selim took a seat at the kitchen table. Selim couldn't help but smile at how pleasantly surprising last night had been with turning out dream free.

"Good," he said, not needing to elaborate any further then that. Before either person was able to continue the conversation, the sound what seemed like someone assaulting their door came. Al sent a questioning, almost disbelieving glance towards Selim, who quickly shook his head.

"I don't know what happened," he said quickly, and Al nodded, trusting him. Selim was very glad he did, since it was the truth, and followed the young man to the door.

When he opened it, Ed almost ran him over with trying to get into the house so fast. Selim and Alphonse could only stare at each other in wonder at the panicked look of the older man, until Al finally caught himself enough to speak.

"Ed, what's wrong? Did something happen?" He asked, obviously worried for whatever it was making his brother look so worried.

"Have you seen Ethan?" he nearly yelled, quickly glancing around the room as if the boy was going to pop out at any second.

"What?" Al asked, sounding more shocked than anything from the question. Selim immediately felt a sinking feeling in his stomach. He couldn't have… What would be the point in sneaking out for a second time, especially after what had happened the other night. Terribly his fears were confirmed as Edwards answered his question.

"Ethan. We woke up this morning and he wasn't in his room. We can't find him anywhere, we think he might have snuck out again," Selim was only able to focus on one thought as thousands of scenarios played throughout his mind.

Oh no.

* * *

Tadaa. Ethan's being a dumb one and sneaking out for a second night in a row. The part where he thinks going out twice in a row is a perfect plan was a little bit inspired by the first anime Russell and Fletcher episode where Ed decides to do the exact same thing.

Well, I hope you liked this, and please review.


	17. Chapter 17

Aak! Sorry about the wait again, I seem to be able to write so much more when my sleep schedule is completely flipped and nocturnal, instead of normal. Also, the next few days are going to be getting up to 124 degrees Fahrenheit. I can't remember a time when it got that hot, at least we got a new air conditioner, so I wont die of heat stroke ^_^ Anyway, enough pointless babble and on with the chapter.

Chapter 17

Selim tried to think while what Edward had said processed in his head. Ethan was missing. Why had he gone out again in the first place? It didn't make any sense, all they had gotten the first time was nearly mauled by wild animals and scared out of their wits. What part of that would make him want to risk doing it again?

"We'll help you look for him," Alphonse said, quickly breaking the black haired boy out of his shock. It still took him a few moments to process what he had said though, when the blonde turned towards him and started talking again. "Selim, where had you two gone the other night?" he asked, and Selim blinked as he tried to remember his answer.

"T-the woods," he said, already seeing what the young man was probably thinking. There was obviously a connection to what had happened the other night, and why Ethan had run off now. Selim just sincerely and fruitlessly wished that there wasn't.

"Alright, we'll check there first," Al said, turning towards his brother now, who nodded in agreement.

"Okay, good idea," he said, almost immediately out the door, Alphonse right behind him. Selim slipped on his shoes as fast as he could and started to follow. He was still in his pajamas, but he didn't want to fall behind while he changed, and he desperately wanted to help and see if the energetic boy was alright. If he wasn't… well, it was Selim's fault in the first place, for telling him about his dreams and getting him sucked in to all of this. It wasn't something meant for normal kids.

They seemed to reach the forest in no time at all. Selim had to stop for a moment, panting and watching as the two brothers continued to walk on at a slightly slower pace. They didn't seem effected by the run at all. Ignoring any logic about them being both older and much stronger, the boy shook his head and trotted to keep up. It was his fault Ethan was out here.

Almost immediately they started going deeper into the forest, calling the lost child's name the entire time. It wasn't long before Selim managed to recognize the same clearing that he and Ethan had been in just the other night. Unsure of whether or not to say anything, Selim waited until calling for the boy proved unsuccessful yet again, and decided to not say anything. If he wasn't here at the moment, what good would the information do?

As they started walking again, the ten year old could tell how increasingly worried Edward was getting the longer it took to find Ethan, and he guessed for good reason too. The other night had proven it could be dangerous out here, and as he thought of all this the guilt inside of him just continued to increase.

"Don't worry, we'll find him," Al said comfortingly as he stopped by Selim's side for a moment, before continuing his way ahead after the black haired boy nodded. He just had to believe he was telling the truth. They'd find him.

When Ethan woke up, the confusion he felt slowly subsided to fear as he remembered what had happened the night before. He went off into the forest, then he got lost and then couldn't find his flashlight. Managing to push himself off the ground, he looked around to try and see if anything looked slightly more recognizable in the daylight.

It didn't, but the blonde decided to follow the small stream he had slipped into the night before. It'd reach the river eventually, and he could find his way home from there. He just absolutely dreaded what waited for him back there. They were already mad at him for sneaking out the first time, and now he didn't have any type of excuse…

After a few minutes, the eight year old heard the sound of someone calling his name, and instantly froze. He didn't know whether to run towards it, or hide. He was in so much trouble, but he wanted to go home.

"Ethan!" he could hear it again, and this time it was clearly his dad. Shaking his head slightly, the boy started walking towards the source of the voice, trying both simultaneously to hold back tears, and pretend that they weren't there.

"D-dad?" he called, instantly catching the man's attention. He barely had any time to think before he saw his father running towards him, a look of both anger, worry and relief all on his face at once.

"What in the world did you think you were doing? Are you all right? We're going home right now! Are you hurt?" Ed kept asking question after question, and all Ethan managed to do was shake his head as he lost control of his tears. Sighing, Edward carefully picked the boy up before turning back towards his brother and Selim. They had been standing just slightly back of the two, both feeling immensely relived at having finally found the blonde boy.

"Hey, thanks for helping me find Ethan. I better go get him home now," he said, and Al nodded, a small smile on his face now that his nephew was safe.

"No problem Ed, anytime. I'm just glad he's safe. Well, see you later," Alphonse said, and Ed just nodded as he started walking away, stealing one last glance at the black haired boy standing at his brother's side.

"Right, see ya," he mumbled, before finally disappearing behind the trees, Ethan clinging to him and not saying a word. Without thinking, Selim quickly sat down on the grassy ground, absolutely exhausted from trying to keep up with the older men, all the adrenaline he'd felt earlier gone now that he knew Ethan was safe.

He couldn't help but think about how all this was his fault in the first place. Ethan had only gotten the idea of sneaking outside to try and find something that would help him. They didn't even know what they were looking for, but he knew now that it wasn't something he could get help from with normal people. It wasn't fair though. He just wanted to be normal too.

"Hey there, you okay?" Alphonse asked, and Selim just nodded. After a few moments, the blonde sat down next to him, and Selim started to get increasingly nervous about where this conversation might be heading.

"Selim, do you know why Ethan was out here?" Alphonse said gently, and Selim wasn't sure how to answer, so he didn't. Instead, he pulled his knees up to his chest and quickly hid his face in them. It wasn't the most subtle form of hiding, but it was all he had at the moment. The young man sighed to himself under his breath before trying once more. "You know you can tell me anything. I wont get mad," he said, and Selim carefully poked one eye out of his hiding place to look at him.

"Really?" he asked quietly. Selim had always known that Mr. Al didn't get mad over most things, but the forbidden things were just that; forbidden. He didn't want to ruin everything he had because he couldn't keep his mouth shut about some nightmares and strange feelings. Al had always seemed to be more lineate about it then others though, maybe he could…

"Of course. Now what happened?" he asked again, and Selim sighed. Okay, he'd tell him, but he wouldn't tell him everything. Not about the dreams or what had happened in the forest the first time. Something inside him told him that that was too much information.

"Ethan was trying to help… figure out why everybody acts weird around me…" he said hesitantly, quickly looking up to see the small frown on the blonde man's face. Taking a deep breath, he tried to continue before Alphonse could say anything. "I didn't tell him to go outside, I didn't even know he was going to do it tonight. He just said he'd help, because it's really weird. Even Mr. Edward and Mrs. Elric don't like me," he finished.

"They don't not like you, it's just that…" Alphonse died off, not quite sure what he could possibly say. Selim just shook his head, not about to have a repeat of the conversation they had in the kitchen.

"It's not just them though… everybody back home, even you and mommy sometimes. Especially the way some of the military people act, and all the guards… You all act really weird, like I'm not normal or something…" he said, not believing that he's actually managed to get the courage to, after thinking about it in the back of his head for years, and almost constantly since he'd gotten here.

Sighing slightly, Alphonse started to pat his back softly. "You are normal alright, don't ever think that there might be something wrong with you, because there isn't. The things you notice shouldn't concern you in the slightest. It's just past fears," he said, mumbling the last part more to himself then to the child beside him. That didn't mean that he didn't hear it though, and he wasn't about to just except that as an answer. There might not be another chance where he got up to courage to talk about this, and he wasn't about to waste it.

"What past fear? Why are people afraid of me?" he asked, and Alphonse just seemed to notice that he had actually said that aloud, quickly shaking his head as if to convince the black haired boy that he hadn't.

"They're not. Selim, none of this has anything to do with you," he said, and Selim just shook his head. That wasn't true. If it had nothing to do with him, then he wouldn't be at the center of it, and those dreams he couldn't mention wouldn't exist.

"Then why do they act strange around me?" he asked, and Alphonse just shook his head as he stood up off the grass covered ground.

"Please, no more questions," the blonde said, a bit more sternly then how he would normally command someone. The confidence and slight defiance that Selim had previously had quickly deflated out of him, and he laid his head back on his knees, choosing to stay seated on the ground. He didn't mean to be a trouble, but one of the two most trusted adults in his life was lying to him, and it felt terrible. He heard Alphonse sighing again, before a feeling of weightlessness as the blonde man picked him up and started carrying him in a very similar manner that Mr. Edward had with his son.

"Selim, I'm sorry, there are just some things you can't know until you're older," Al whispered, and the black haired boy just wrapped his arms around his neck as he allowed himself to be carried. Mr. Al used to carry his all the time when he watched him when he was little, but stopped once he started getting a bit too big. He was still strong enough to though, and Selim sometimes missed it.

"How old?" he mumbled, not paying any attention to where they were heading, knowing that Mr. Alphonse probably knew the way home easily. This was where he had lived as a kid after all.

"You'll find out when I'm able to tell you everything," the blonde man said, causing Selim to frown just slightly. He guessed it made sense though, since there probably wasn't a specific age where you told a child all about the strange things and actions others had around him meant, despite what Ethan would probably say.

"Promise?" he asked, managing to hear Alphonse chuckle a bit before nodding.

"Of course," the blonde said, and Selim just nodded, closing his eyes as they continued walking, still exhausted from the run and having not eaten anything since last night, Ed coming over before he had a chance to eat breakfast.

He wasn't sure when he'd fallen asleep, but it was long before the two managed to make their way back to Alphonse's home. Even though they'd found Ethan safe, the sleep was not peaceful, his unanswered questions keeping his mind fitful.

Even if Mr. Al said that he'd find out where he was older, he wasn't sure if he could wait that long.

* * *

Finally it's done! The beginning of this chapter was very hard to write for some reason. Anyway, Selim is getting closer to the truth, it seems. At least, Al's definitely knows that Selim isn't clueless about everything strange around him.  
For some reason, the thought of Al acting as a surrogate dad for Selim is really cute to me, especially considering Pride's... unusual relationships with father figures. (totally no parallels with the way Ed carried his son home to the way Al carried Selim, definitely not)  
Well, I hope you liked this chapter, and please review.


	18. Chapter 18

Hello everyone. So sorry about the long wait, but hey, I actually managed to finish the chapter just in time for the one year anniversary. I can't believe it's actually been this long, this one really snuck up on me. Well, thank you for everyone who's been following this story for so long, and anyone who's just happened to pick it up along the way as well. You're all awesome ^_^

Chapter 18

When they made it back to Mr. Alphonse house, the blonde man placed Selim down on the living room couch with a command of 'stay here' while he disappeared into the kitchen. Selim probably wouldn't have moved even if he hadn't told him not to. He was just so confused, there really wasn't much left that made sense to him anymore, and everything he thought that did was starting to come into question now more than ever.

It didn't take Al very long at all to come back into the room and hand him a glass of orange juice before sitting down next to him. "Thank you," the black haired boy mumbled before taking a sip and placing the cup down on the coffee table.

"Look," Alphonse started, "I'm sorry if this all seems unfair and confusing but-" he apologized, but Selim just shook his head and smiled up at the young man. He knew that Mr. Al wouldn't lie to him if he didn't need to. There was probably a very good explanation for why, so he shouldn't guilt trip him because he can't say anything. Even if it was a very tempting option.

"That's alright, I understand," he said, noticing the quick look of relief that crossed the Mr. Alphonse's face.

"Well," Al said, standing up from the couch. "you must be hungry, you didn't get to eat before Ed came over, did you?" he asked, and Selim shook his head. He was actually getting pretty hungry, and while the orange juice was helping a little, it wasn't exactly enough to constitute as a meal. "Alright then, I'll go make you something, I'll be right back," with that, the blonde man once again disappeared back into the kitchen, leaving Selim alone in the living room.

Not entirely sure what to do, he got up and walked to the study down the hall. Leaving the door open behind him so that Mr. Al would know he was in there, he pulled the beginner's alchemy book off the shelf that he'd been learning out of. There wasn't really much else he could do when it came to figuring out what was going on, so he might as well just focus himself in on the alchemy. At the very least, it was a good distraction.

When Alphonse came into the room about ten minutes later, Selim hadn't been able to get very far, not really able to concentrate all that much. Instead he had mainly just flipped around through the pages, looking over the different diagrams that caught his attention.

"Hey there, breakfast's done," the blonde said, and Selim slid off of the desk chair and followed him back into the kitchen. "After you're finished, want to do a little more alchemy practice?" he asked, causing Selim to pause in his eating and look up, a bit confused at the suggestion after what had just happened.

"You wouldn't mind? Even though it's my fault Ethan was outside?" he asked, and Alphonse shook his head.

"Of course not, I know you didn't mean for anything like this to happen, and you'll probably want to get as much alchemy training in before you have to go back home, wont you?" Alphonse said, and Selim nodded. Smiling, he continued to eat at a slightly faster pace, before excusing himself to his room to change out of his pajamas. When he got back a few minutes later, Mr. Al was waiting for him back inside the study.

"So, what should we go over today?" the young man asked, flipping through the alchemy book still located on the desk while he thought. Selim didn't answer as he pulled over a stool to sit by him.

"Mr. Al, how'd you get to be such a great alchemist?" the black haired boy asked. It surprised him slightly that he'd never actually asked him before. Sure, he'd told him bits and pieces of his training with his alchemy teacher, and about his father, who'd also been an amazing alchemist if the stories were to be believed, but it didn't really tell him how. Other people could train all their lives, and it didn't seem like they could ever be as good as the blonde man, at least in Selim's eyes. Alphonse just smiled sheepishly and scratched at the back of his head.

"Just a whole lot of practice and studying," he said, and Selim nodded. There didn't really seem like there could be any other possibility after all. "Alright well, let's start off with going over what we did yesterday," Al decided after a moment, and the two quickly went over the meaning of each alchemic symbol he'd taught Selim. Al couldn't help but be impressed at how well he was able to remember them all, although a slight worry he didn't let the child see wasn't very surprised.

"Okay, while I haven't taught you all the individual symbols by a long shot, I think it'd be good to move on to a few whole circles, just so you can get the idea down," Alphonse said, turning a few pages in the book until he got to a circle he found simple enough to just explain the main parts without too much confusion.

Selim listened carefully as Mr. Al explained how the different symbols and diagrams in the circle corresponded to each other, and how it is the alchemist's job to read and understand that connection, flow it through themselves and perform a transmutation. The two continued studying a few other basic circles, comparing them to each other, and how the differences in them allowed for their different abilities, until a knock at the door interrupted them.

"Huh, I wonder who that could be," the blonde said, before standing up and heading towards the door. "You can just wait here," he added as he walked out of the room, and Selim nodded and turned back towards the circle they were studying, going over what Mr. Al had been talking about.

After a few minutes, Alphonse had yet to return, and Selim had finished going over in his head everything he knew about the circle. He considered going to check on what was keeping his teacher, but he didn't want to seem impatient, especially after everything that had already happened today. Instead, he decided to look through the bookshelves again. He could preoccupy himself with some other book while he waited.

Running his eyes along the shelf, the titles tended to blur themselves together a bit in his head. He'd reached the end of the bookshelf, near the back corner of the wall, when his eyes focused on a particular book, and he couldn't help but frown.

"Hey, I'm back. Sorry about that, Ed had just stopped by to let us know that Ethan's perfectly fine now, and that he's now grounded for twice as long," Alphonse said as he walked back into the room, but Selim just continued to stare at the book, several questions running through his head at once. "Selim?" Al asked, and the black haired boy decided it'd be best to just ask the most immediate one.

"Mr. Al, why do you have a book on human transmutation?" he said, not taking his eyes off the worn out grey binding, the letters on the spine almost incomprehensible with their age, but that was definitely what it said. Almost immediately the young man was at his side, looking down at the same book he was, before steering him away from the bookcase and back towards his stool and desk.

"It was my father's, no one should mess with that sort of stuff," Alphonse said on the way, and Selim just nodded, but that just made him think of more questions.

"Why did he have it?" he asked, knowing he probably shouldn't after all the questioning he'd done just a few hours ago, but his curiosity not letting him resist. Al still had a small frown on his face as he sighed.

"He had his reasons, but human transmutation isn't something people should talk about. It will only end in tragedy," the blonde man said, and Selim noticed that he hadn't actually answered him didn't think there was any reason to question him on the other half of his statement. Bringing people back from the dead; there was just something unsettling about it.

"Did he ever do it?" the black haired boy asked, knowing that when he said people shouldn't talk about it, he'd most likely meant that as an end of the conversation, but the question blurted out before he was able to edit himself. It kind of made sense, after all. Mr. Al was talking about it in a way that didn't really seem like something he'd only just read about. It seemed much more personal. The young man just shook his head though, a ghost of a smile on his face.

"No, thankfully. Now, where were we?" he said, quickly changing the topic back to their alchemy lesson, leaving Selim no more time for any further questions. They continued for another hour without any other interruptions before Alphonse dismissed them.

"I need to go to the store, think you'll be alright on your own for a while?" he asked, and Selim nodded. Once he was gone Selim was still inside the study, reading a bit more of his beginners alchemy book. Every so often, his eyes would drift over to the grey binding in the corner. Mr. Al said that human transmutation wasn't something anyone should mess with, and he agreed with him… but that didn't mean he couldn't just take a look inside. He probably wouldn't even understand anything anyway.

Giving in to his curiosity yet again, he sat down next to where the bookcase hit the wall and pulled the old book out. The top of it was coated in a thick layer of dust, and the pages seemed to creak as he pulled them open. It was pretty obvious that no one had looked at it in a very long time. Flipping towards the front of the book, he tried to make sense the large words and theorems and impossibly complicated circles that littered the pages.

As he flipped through the pages, he caught sight of a word that stuck out to him more so than the others. It was long and complicated, just like all the others, so there wasn't really any reason for him to take any particular note of it, but it was a bit like how this book over all the others stuck out to him. It wasn't that it didn't belong, per say, it just seemed… more important than the others.

"Ho… homunculus?" he questioned to the open air, not entirely sure if he'd gotten the pronunciation exactly right. Whatever it was this page was trying to explain, it wasn't telling him the meaning of the word, or well, he couldn't figure it out if it was, so he skipped back a few more pages until he caught sight of it again.

"Homunculus," he repeated, reading the words out loud so that he could make better sense of it. "or artificial humans, would be an imperfect result of a human transmutation. One was rumored to be created by Theo… theobastus? Bom… bombast… something…" he said, mumbling and trailing off on the complicated name. Shaking his head, he closed the old book and placed it back in it's empty spot on the shelf. He was right when he'd thought that he wouldn't of been able to understand the insides at all.

Standing up off the ground, he walked out of the study and to his guest room. There wasn't too much he could do with Mr. Alphonse gone, but he was sure he'd be able to find something. He really didn't feel like reading anymore about alchemy at the moment.

Sitting down on his bed, his mind wondered back to that word, homunculus, he'd just read about. Creating a fake human seemed even worse than trying to bring someone back from the dead, at least there you could have some sort of motivation. Maybe you just missed them that much? But to create someone completely new, and then not have it really work? He wondered what a homunculus would look like, if they weren't entirely successful. There would have to be something off, to set them apart.

Maybe he could ask Mr. Alphonse about it when he got back home, but of course that would involve letting him know he looked in the human transmutation book at all to begin with. Even though there was no reason for him to think something like that would be personal to the blonde man, since he'd said his father had never done one, there was still something in the back of his mind that told him there was.

It was that same voice that wouldn't leave him alone for anything else, and he wasn't sure if he hated it or not. It wasn't like he was hearing people talk to him in his head or anything. It was kind of like a feeling, but more concrete. They didn't really seem like his thoughts though, since how would he know about some of the things it pushed him towards and caused him to believe. It was in the same realm as his dreams, something he couldn't quite comprehend.

Selim frowned slightly as the half paragraph from the book replayed in his head. Homunculus, artificial humans… Mr. Theo-man… humans… there was something wrong with it, but for the life of him, he couldn't figure out what, and this time the voice inside him wasn't helping.

* * *

Hurray, was actually able to get this up in time, it makes me happy ^_^ I was actually really stuck on this chapter for a while, so I hope you all liked how it finally managed to come out. Looks like Selim's better at finding clues to his life when he's not looking than when he is.

Well, I hope you like this, and please review.


	19. Chapter 19

Hi y'all, once again sorry for taking a while to update. School's been pretty demanding so far this year, and it's only been two weeks in, fun fun fun. Ah well, I still have (some) time to write on the weekends, and hopefully things will chill out a bit more after I get everything for college next year ready.

Chapter 19

Selim stayed on his bed for another fifteen minutes before finally pushing himself up and sighing. He couldn't make any sense out of the strange prickling of thoughts that word had spilled into his head. An artificial human created by alchemy, why should he care about that?

Standing up, the black haired boy walked out of the room and started to aimlessly wonder around the house. Mr. Al wasn't back yet, so he was still alone and wasn't sure what to do. He was almost positive that Ethan would have taken this as a chance to start snooping around to try and find some answers. That wouldn't be a very good thing to do though, not after everything that'd happened this morning. If Alphonse found out, he really would get in trouble this time.

The child soon found himself stopped outside of Al's room, staring at the closed door. Ethan would probably go inside without a second thought. Twisting the doorknob, Selim couldn't help but think that maybe he was just substituting Ethan's name with his own in order to take some of the blame off of himself. Either way, soon he was inside of the blonde man's room and started over to the desk in the corner.

It was smaller than the desk in the study, and Selim carefully opened one of the drawers. It was filled with papers, and Selim could barely make sense of any of them. It didn't help at all that their was several written at least partially in Xingese.

Closing that drawer, he moved on to the other, and the next and the next. All four of them were exactly the same, and Selim sighed at his limited knowledge holding him back from potential answers. Why he felt Mr. Al's alchemic research would help him with his problems, he wasn't sure.

Leaving the desk he started looking around the rest of the room. It was pretty simple, just a bed, a side table, dresser, mirror and the desk. Nothing that would help him find something he couldn't see.

Walking along the room, he decided to just make sure that there wasn't anything maybe on top of the bedside tables or on the dresser that might be able to help him. The side tables proved fruitless though, as did the old dresser. He didn't know why he even thought that looking through the room would help him any more than looking at his alchemic notes would. Maybe he was just trying to be optimistic. If that was the case, he wasn't doing a very good job.

Before he left, he caught a glimpse of himself in the mirror. He looked like he always did, just an average boy. Frowning, he parted his bangs to get a better look at the red marking on his forehead. Usually he tried to ignore it, or at least pretend that he did. He could never really just leave it in the open for everyone to see, but didn't bother to cover it up with hats or headbands or anything. He did have to keep a certain hairstyle to have his bangs hide it though. If he didn't have the marking, he probably would have liked them to be a bit shorter in the front.

Turning away from his reflection, he left the room, unable to keep himself from feeling slightly disappointed. Closing the bedroom door behind him and he went back down to the main floor of the house. He found himself once again back inside the study, staring down at the human transmutation book.

"I'm not doing a very good job…" he mumbled to himself, pulling the large book out and sitting down at the desk. Flipping through the old tome just led to the same results as the first time. Complete confusion and no better understanding of why he was so drawn to it in the first place. "There has to be something…" he whispered to the book, but it didn't exactly give him any answers. It wasn't like a book was even really capable of telling him exactly why he felt a certain way anyway, but he just needed some sort of clue.

When Alphonse came home about an hour later, he found Selim sitting in the living room, sketching on a loose piece of paper he'd found.

"Hey there, what are you drawing?" he asked, and the black haired boy showed him the paper. He'd stopped searching through the book on human transmutation a while ago, after feeling like he'd hit a dead end, and decided to draw instead. He didn't do it very often, and when he did, it was often just things he would look at, but this time he decided to try something different. Maybe if he drew something from his dreams, if might stir something.

"It's Mr. Armor… I thought he looked interesting in the photo, and I wanted to see if I could draw him," he explained, getting a bit worried at the strange look Al gave the picture. It was partially shock as well as something else. Regret maybe? He couldn't tell.

Putting the picture back down, he stared at it instead of looking at the older man. It wasn't really all that good. The head was too big for the body, and it looked much more cartoonish than he would have wanted. He'd also strategically made smoke cover it's hands and feet, so that he wouldn't have to even try with them, although the scene he was trying to draw from his memory did have a lot of smoke… or was it dirt? He couldn't remember.

After a few seconds Al was able to hide the emotion on his face and smile as he walked into the kitchen to put the groceries away. "It looks great," he called from the other room. "Where'd you get the idea for the smoke and pose?" he asked, and Selim picked up the paper and went into the kitchen so that he wouldn't have to speak any louder than he normally would.

"I…" he started, not quite sure if he should say the rest of the sentence. The warnings from inside against talking about his dreams were starting to die down and give in to his curiosity at the situation. "I had a dream about it," he finally said quietly, carefully watching the blonde man's face as he placed food into cabinets. It didn't change much, but Selim could tell that there was something bothering him, and his thoughts went back to his old stuffed armor laying on his bed. Al had made him that toy, and he couldn't help but wonder just who was supposed to be inside.

"A dream huh? What happened in it?" he asked, and Selim noticed that he sure was asking a lot of questions all of a sudden.

"I can't remember much, but I think it was fighting something," he said, deciding that it'd be best if he didn't go into too much detail, since he still had no idea how Mr. Al would react about everything if he told him. The blonde just nodded though, finished putting away the food and now heading to the living room, Selim following with his picture.

"Did he die?" Selim asked after a moment of silence, catching Alphonse off guard slightly.

"Die? What do you mean?" he asked, and Selim sat down on the couch and shrugged slighting, trying to keep his hands from accidentally crumbling his paper. Even if it wasn't all that good, he still didn't want to make it any worse with creases.

"Because when I asked about him in the photos you said that he was gone, so I thought he might have died," Selim explained. He couldn't remember the armored man ever dieing in his dreams, but that didn't mean that it couldn't of still happened. Al was quiet for a moment, like he wasn't too sure on how to really answer him.

"Yeah, I guess he did kind of die, in a way," the blonde said finally, and Selim just nodded, deciding to not try and press his luck any more than he already had. Thinking about it, he'd found out more today than he had in as long as he could remember, and it was all pretty much due to Ethan sneaking out. Sure, all of the half-answers he'd gotten only managed to give him even more questions, but it was definitely a start.

"I'm sorry," the black haired boy said, but Alphonse just shook his head and stood up off the couch. He still had a strange look on his face, like he wasn't too sure what emotion he should be feeling at the moment.

"It's alright, that was a long time ago," the young man said, and Selim just nodded as he watched him walk towards the stairs, "I need to do a bit of work, just call me if you need anything at all, alright?" Alphonse told him, and Selim wasn't sure if he was grateful for more time alone to think, or disappointed.

"Okay," he said despite whatever he might have felt, and soon he could hear the door to Mr. Al's room close and turned his head away from the stairs and back to his picture. Picking up the pencil, he continued to work on it as he thought about what had just happened.

Alphonse actually didn't seem to mind that he had a dream about the armor. Maybe it wouldn't be completely forbidden to tell him about his dreams. At least, some of them. Maybe not any of the ones that involved his father, or Mr. Edward. If he could talk to him about it, then maybe he could finally figure out if they were true or not.

Selim blinked and stopped in his sketching as that thought occurred to him. He'd always thought the dreams had to of meant something, but that was the first time he'd actually referred to them as possibly being real. That was what he was trying to figure out though, if he really thought about it. Even if all logic was practically screaming at him that it was impossible, he couldn't of lived twice.

Lived twice. Selim tried to keep himself from gasping as he quickly placed his pencil down on the table and went to the study. He pulled the old Human transmutation book out of it's place for the third time that day and flipped it open and started to scan the pages as he sat on the floor. It wasn't making any more sense than when he'd looked at it the other times, but there was a new energy in his search for understanding.

Living twice, it was impossible, but if someone was able to do a successful human transmutation, or at least able to create a homunculus, then they just might be able to make the impossible, possible.

* * *

Hurray, end of chapter time. This one was hard to get the right length, I still feel that it's a bit short, but I wanted to end it there, for suspense purposes. Selim's getting a bit closer to the truth. He just wants to make me say, so close, but not quite.

Well, I hope you liked this chapter, and please review.


	20. Chapter 20

Hello everyone, I managed to update at a slightly reasonable pace, hurray. Decided it's probably a better idea than sleeping after school and wreaking my schedule even more than it already is.

Also, yay, we have officially hit twenty chapters. I hope everyone had liked everything so far, I didn't even realize we were this far along already. (Already? It's been over a year).

Chapter 20

Selim spent the next twenty minutes flipping through the old alchemy book. When he finally closed it and placed it back on the shelf, his head was spinning with bits and pieces of words and information that made absolutely no sense to the child. He knew he wouldn't be able to understand the book, and wasn't sure why he'd spent so long trying. Even if he… had a guess as to what could be going on, there wasn't any real way to prove it. At least, not without letting anyone know he was suspicious.

He didn't try to find out anything else for the rest of the day, acting as normal as he could during dinner and when talking to his mother on the phone. They didn't seem to notice any unease he might be feeling, although he supposed that Al might just be trying to let him wait until he was ready to talk about any problems. His mother just sounded happy to know he was having a good time and that Mr. Alphonse was teaching him the basics of alchemy.

Once it was time for him to go to sleep though, he just stared up at the ceiling above the guest bed, a thousand and one thoughts running through his head. He was probably wrong. He was jumping to a conclusion without any real evidence backing him up, and that was never a good idea.

They still managed to keep him from sleeping for several hours, the possibility not leaving him be. Of course, if it was true, that just opened a whole new slew of questions. None of the images in his dreams made any sense, they couldn't have actually happened.

When he finally managed to fall into a light sleep, it was anything but peaceful, flashes and bursts of images causing him to toss and turn until he eventually awoke and had to start the whole process over again. He hated nights like this, although they didn't happen very often. The worst part was that these were the dreams and images he remembered the least, forgetting almost everything but the fear once his eyes were open. In between bouts of sleep he would try to remember what the flashes were, but he never could. It had a similar feeling to trying to remember something from when you were too young, and couldn't.

The black haired boy eventually managed to fall into a consistent sleep at around three or four in the morning. He couldn't remember, all he really knew was that he woke up the next morning at a little after noon, and found Alphonse eating some lunch in the living room when he came in. He never woke him up when he overslept, unless they had to specifically be somewhere or do something by a certain time.

"Hey there, tired?" the blonde man asked, and Selim nodded slightly, rubbing his eyes to try and get himself a bit more alert. "Trouble sleeping?" Selim nodded once again, figuring that there wasn't any way he could really deny it.

"I just hadda bad dream," he mumbled, sitting down on the couch in order to talk to the older man. He could see Al's concerned expression as he looked the child over, and wondered just what it was he was thinking. Sure, most adults get worried when kids have bad dreams and the like, but he still wanted to know. If there was something different about him, and why they were keeping it a secret. A thought quickly crossed his mind, and he figured that if the scenes from his dreams were true, he could see why they wouldn't want him to find out, actually.

"What was it about?" Alphonse asked, and Selim frowned as he fruitlessly tried to remember at least a small tidbit of his dream, but once again his mind only gave him a vague sense of fear and darkness, and that didn't exactly give him very much to work with.

"I can't remember, I just woke up really scared," he explained, hoping that Mr. Al would believe him. He seemed to, and Selim couldn't help but feel grateful for that. At least if they didn't really trust him, they didn't show it to his face.

"You could have come talked to me last night if you were scared," the blonde man said, and Selim nodded, starting to come out of his sleepy haze.

"I know, but it wasn't that bad. Thank you anyway," he said, and Alphonse seemed to reluctantly accept this as an answer. It really wasn't that bad though, even though he was tired, he was a bit used to dreams keeping him up at night. It hadn't happened in a few days too, so that was also good. Besides, when he couldn't remember what happened in the dreams, it wasn't really as scary as when he could. It was when he woke up unsure if he was back in reality or not that truly terrified him.

Alphonse soon rose up and started making Selim a late breakfast, which the child made sure to eat all of. He wasn't really that hungry, but he knew that he was already worried about him, if he gave the man any other signs that he might not be feeling well, then he might start to investigate even farther, or at least assume that he was probably sick or something.

While he was eating the blonde man explained that he had a bit of work to catch up with this morning, but would study more alchemy with Selim after dinner. Until then, the child was allowed to do as he please, and he could go outside again. He knew that Ethan wouldn't be able to though, definitely not before he had to go back home now that his punishment had been extended. He tried not to think about that too much as he wondered into the backyard, attempting to distract himself from the confusing thoughts that had been plaguing his mind so much recently.

The time alone wasn't really helping though, and the child sighed. He wasn't sure he'd ever felt so restless before. This was suppose to be a fun vacation, his first time away from home. He supposed that was the start of it all though, the fact that he'd never left home before now, combined with the dreams, just had to make him ask why.

He hadn't really been paying any attention to where the long dirt path was leading him, and eventually found himself standing outside of Mr. Edward's house. He didn't hear any yelling or anything coming from it, but supposed that even they couldn't really be loud all the time.

"Hey, Ethan's still grounded, if you were wondering," Selim jumped in his skin a bit at the sudden voice, and quickly turned to face the golden eyed man he hadn't noticed before. He was holding a wooden crate, although Selim wasn't able to see what was inside of it from his position. The boy nodded, not wanting Mr. Edward to think he hadn't heard him or anything.

"I know. Mr. Al just said I could play outside while he worked," Selim explained, and Ed nodded before placing the box down on the ground at his feet, giving Selim a strange look. It was a look that the black haired boy had seen many times on his face, and he never could figure out what it meant. Deciding to just ignore it for now, he glanced into the box, seeing bits and pieces of metal that he had to assume to be an arrangement of loose automail parts.

"So, you like staying with Al?" the older man asked, and Selim quickly nodded, not really used to him being the first to start the conversation. In all the years he'd known him, almost as long as he'd known Mr. Al, he didn't really talk to him all the much. That was probably a part of the reason why he was never very comfortable around the man. He could only guess that the change now was either because of something Al did, or because of everything that had happened with Ethan recently. To tell the truth, he wasn't sure which one he wanted it to be.

"Yes, he's really nice, and it's fun being able to see some other part of the country besides just my home and Central," Selim said, more than a bit nervous to be talking to him casually, especially with everything that had been on his brain lately. Edward just nodded again though, but he wasn't smiling or anything still. He didn't look mad either though, just kind of curious, which Selim guessed that he was feeling a bit like that too.

"Yeah, traveling is fun," the blonde man mumbled, and Selim wasn't sure what else to say. Before he got a chance to think of anything though, Mr. Edward bent down and picked the wooden crate back up again. It sure was big, Selim had a habit of forgetting just how strong the Elric brothers apparently were. "Well, I'd better get going, have fun," he said, and Selim nodded, watching the older man carry the large box back behind the house with ease.

Sticking his hands in his pockets, Selim decided to turn back around and head in the direction of Alphonse's home. He wasn't sure if he was going to go back completely yet, but there wasn't really much left down the road in the path he was currently going.

It wasn't long before he was back in the familiar front yard. Looking out towards the rest of the sleepy town, he really didn't know what to do. He wasn't used to the country side like this, and without Ethan to drag him around and show him things, he was at a bit of a loss. Sighing slightly, he decided to head back inside. It was nice and pretty out here and all, but the calmness of it all was letting him think just a bit too much. He'd prefer something to occupy his mind rather then his body.

Once he was in the living room though, there wasn't anyone to be found, but that wasn't really a surprise. Alphonse had said that he needed to work until dinner, and Selim wasn't going to go bother him because he was bored. He couldn't expect Mr. Al to watch over him all the time, after all. It wasn't like his guards, and despite the slight loneliness, that was something he was thankful for.

He decided it was probably best to stay out of the alchemy study for now, if he wanted to get his mind off of those kind of things, so instead he went to his room. Looking around a bit, he eventually found a small packet of cards, and figured they were as good as anything to keep him occupied. Sitting on the bed, he started playing a game of solitaire, keeping his old stuffed armor in his lap. It wasn't long before he'd won several games and once again bored himself.

"What do you think I should do, Mister Armor?" he said quietly, holding up the worn out toy. It wasn't something he did very often anymore, but when he was younger he'd talk to the stuffed doll all the time. It was probably a combination of boredom, stress and not having Shadow around to talk to that'd made him start again.

Unsurprisingly, the toy did nothing but blankly stare back at him, and Selim sighed and placed it down again. Of course, he'd spent a lot of time back home alone, but he did always have his cat and things to keep him occupied. Alphonse didn't really have that many toys and knickknacks.

The sound of someone in the doorway caught his attention, and he looked up to see Mr. Al looking into the room at him. Selim quickly put on a smile, he didn't want him to think he wasn't happy here or that he wished he hadn't come. That wasn't the case at all, he was so glad for the opportunity to go somewhere, but the constant questions in the back of his head wouldn't let him relax as much as he wished.

"Hey, I was just coming to make sure everything's okay," the blonde said, and Selim nodded and swung his legs off to the side of the bed so that he was facing him better.

"I'm fine, how's your work coming?" he asked, hoping maybe it was coming faster than the young man thought it would, and they could start working on alchemy sooner. Al smiled as he started to lean against the doorframe.

"It's good, I was thinking about taking a break to make dinner, would you like to help me?" he asked, and Selim quickly glanced at the clock. It was nearly five o'clock already. Where had the time gone all of a sudden? Surely he hadn't been playing cards for over three hours. Pushing the thought out of his mind, he nodded and stood up off the bed. At least he'd managed to keep himself distracted.

"Yes please, that sounds like fun," he said, and Al chuckled slightly as the two made their way to the kitchen. Selim couldn't help but think how much quieter today had been compared to yesterday. Of course, he had spent the majority of the day trying to ignore all the potential, possibly, maybe, insights he found yesterday.

Helping the blonde man cook, he tried to convince himself that maybe he didn't have to think about and try to figure out those dreams. If he could keep himself occupied, if he just didn't think about it, maybe he could pretend he was just a normal kid.

He knew that they'd start studying alchemy again after dinner, and the urge to find those answers would hit him once more. Even if he tried to fight it, he didn't think that he would be able to stay content with a little act of normalcy.

The voices inside him wouldn't allow it.

* * *

Hurray, finished. Sorry not too much seemed to really happen in this chapter. Selim still doesn't know what he wants. One minute he's trying as hard as he can to figure out what's going on, the next he's trying to forget that there's even a problem in the first place.

Well, I hope you liked this chapter, and please review.


	21. Chapter 21

Hello everybody. I'm sorry for being all late again. I kept meaning to start it, and then stuff would happen, and I'd end up falling asleep or decide to be kind of responsible and do homework or something like that. I actually haven't felt like I've been able to write anything for almost a week now, but hopefully this will get me out of that rut. Anyway, it's finally here though, so hurray.

Chapter 21

Just like Selim had thought, after the two had finished with his next alchemy lesson, his mind was whirling again. He wished it was just from attempting to remember and sort through all the new knowledge, but that wasn't really the case. It was part of it, yes, but there was that aching urge inside of him saying that all of this was much too familiar to be normal.

Climbing into his bed, he wasn't really all that tired. He hadn't done too much today besides try and ignore everything picking at him. Trying to picture a calendar in his head, he counted the days until he would have to go back home. It was the end of his eighth day here now, and he really couldn't believe how short it'd actually been. It seemed like so much had happened in such a small amount of time. He was a bit over halfway through his visit now, only six days left. He'd miss it here, even with all the confusion it brought. Shaking his head, the black haired boy tried to just block those thoughts from his mind. He still had six days left, after all.

It took a few hours for Selim to finally fall to sleep. He wasn't able to really get much though, just lying there staring at the ceiling and thinking. There wasn't anything new for him to add to his equation yet, so for the moment, he was stuck.

When he woke up on the morning of his ninth day, he was very glad at the lack of nightmares for once. With how much he'd been scrutinizing everything, he was sure it was only instigating them even more than usual. Quickly getting dressed, he started downstairs to see if Alphonse was awake yet.

The blonde didn't seem to be anywhere, which was a bit strange. He was almost always up before Selim, and looking at the clock it wasn't really that early. 9:03am, he really should be up by now.

Frowning slightly, the child started back up the stairs and to Alphonse's room. Maybe he was feeling sick or something. If that was it, then Selim would see if there was anything he could do to help him. Once he got there though, he found the room empty, which didn't help to clear his confusion much at all. Well, maybe he went out to get something, like breakfast or something from his brother. He might not of wanted to wake him up to tell him, especially if it was really early and with the way the black haired boy hadn't been able to sleep too well for the past few days.

Shrugging slightly, he tried not to worry about it and went back downstairs to make himself something to eat. Mr. Al was a great alchemist and fighter, although he'd never actually seen him fight anything, but he'd heard things. He was definitely capable of taking care of himself.

The black haired boy had just managed to finish almost all of his toast, just leaving a bit of the crust on the plate when Alphonse came walking in through the front door. He wasn't carrying any groceries or anything, so Selim could only assume it was probably more along the lines of having to do with his brother, or visiting some other people who liked in the small rural town.

"Mr. Alphonse, good morning," Selim said happily, getting up from the table and walking over to where the young man was. Al smiled down at him as he took a grey hat off and placed it down on the side table.

"Good morning, when did you get up?" the blonde asked, walking a bit farther into the house. Selim followed him, still wondering where he had gone off to.

"A little while ago, where were you?" he asked.

"At Ed's. Sorry, I meant to leave a note incase you woke up, but I couldn't find my shoes and it completely slipped my mind once I finally found them," Alphonse explained casually. Selim just nodded, taking a seat on the couch as Al took a quick glance out the window. It seemed like it was pretty windy today, Selim guessed that was why he'd been wearing that hat.

"I think it's gonna storm soon…" the blonde man mumbled slightly before turning back towards Selim. When the boy looked outside though, there weren't that many clouds. "It's still got about another hour or so if you want to go outside for a little bit though," he suggested, and now Selim could see the band of grey clouds just over the horizon. He thought for a moment before nodding. Sure, he wasn't really able to find something to do outside yesterday, but it might be different this time around. "Alright, but makes sure you don't go too far away," Al said as Selim started getting his shoes on.

"I wont," the child promised before he walked out through the front door. It was a lot windier than he was used to, but it actually felt kind of nice. His hair was whipping around slightly, but he was pretty sure Al was right in saying that it would probably hold off for at least another hour. Plus, even if it did start raining, he'd already said he wasn't going to go very far, he could just run back inside where it was safe.

The black haired child started walking around the yard, trying to distract himself with all the plants there. It was something he liked to do back home, and these plants were different, especially the ones from Xing. Some of the taller ones were flailing around in the wind, their shadows following the pattern wildly.

He couldn't help but be a bit mesmerized by the silhouetted shapes, still visible as the clouds had yet to block out the sun. Something inside him said that he probably shouldn't spend his time staring at shadows, especially with the way his dreams went most of the time. It was always that thing from the shadows that would terrify him. It was the one thing that would let him really know what was reality and what was a dream. Except for that one time, in the forest…

He wished he hadn't closed his eyes then. How was he suppose to know that something that could have potentially told him if everything was real, or if he was just over thinking it and starting to go insane was about to happen though? He could see the temptation to go back to the forest and investigate like Ethan had, but firmly decided against it. He said he wasn't going to go far, and it was obvious that Ethan's trip hadn't ended very well.

Frowning, he didn't notice that the wind had started to pick up even more now, already lost in his own thoughts. He was quite good at blocking out the rest of the world when he wanted to, instead focusing solely within himself. It was just like last night though, he didn't have anything else to add to his puzzle. If he couldn't find any more pieces, how was he suppose to figure out what the picture was?

Selim almost wished he did have one of those awful dreams last night. Maybe if it was something new it would have given him some sort of clue. If he didn't figure it out soon, he wasn't sure how much longer he could go before he straight up asked Mr. Al what was wrong with him. He was still a bit too terrified of what would happen if everything was true though. If he was some sort of monster…

"Selim? Are you okay? It's raining," Alphonse's voice broke the boy out of his trance, and he looked around to see that it was indeed raining. It wasn't very hard, just a small drizzle, but he still should have noticed it. Looking back towards the grown, the shadow that had set his whole train of thought off was gone now, hidden by the overcast.

"Yes," he answered, before quickly walking towards the door and went back inside. His hair was just a bit damp, and his clothes were mostly fine, he didn't need to change or anything, thankfully. If the rain had gotten worse and he didn't notice, then Mr. Al probably wouldn't have taken yes as an answer. He didn't even seem like he wanted to take it as one now.

"Alright…" he said uncertainly, watching the child as he sat down and started looking over a few of the photographs framed on the side table. None of them really stuck out to Selim. He couldn't help but notice that most, no wait, all of the ones with the armored man in them were gone now, and frowned. There hadn't been that many to begin with, but it was clear now that it wasn't something Mr. Al wanted him to know too much about. Then why had he given him that doll all those years ago in the first place?

"Mr. Al?" he asked quietly, not taking his eyes away from the photos. It wasn't that he was cared about them anymore, because he didn't really. They were all too recent, although he wasn't even sure what time period he was looking for. Something from before he was born. The blonde man stopped in his tracks and turned towards the child. No, he was staring at the photos because he was afraid to look back at his current guardian.

"Hm? What is it?" he asked casually, not sounding suspicious about the way he'd spaced out in the backyard or was avoiding eye contact now. Selim could only wonder how much of it was an act.

"What's a homunculus?" the black haired boy said quietly, and could almost feel the way Alphonse flinched at the seemingly innocent question.

"What?" the blonde asked back, trying to hide the shock and fear in his voice. Selim was still able to notice them though, and quickly added them to whatever list of strange things he had going on in his head. He said he was good at puzzles, but it seemed it was much harder to get the pieces than it was to actually put them together.

"Um, I asked what a homunculus is. I… I saw it in that book, and was wondering…" he explained, still afraid to go above a whisper, but managed to sneak a look back at Al. His expression didn't have any of the shock that he knew what there a moment before, but it was mostly blank now. Mostly… there actually seemed to be a bit of… anger? Oh no…

"You looked in the Human Transmutation book?" He asked, and all Selim could do was nod, not able to turn back and stare at the pictures again. Mr. Al didn't get mad very often, or ever really. Just that one time, when he'd started asking too many questions, and now… "I thought I said that was something that no one should bother with," he said, and Selim nodded again.

"I know… I was just curious, I wasn't going to do any of it… I don't even have anyone to try to bring back…" He mumbled, but it didn't seem to give the older man any sort of comfort.

"Yes, I know you don't _now,_ but that doesn't mean it wont always be that way. You're a smart boy, and I know that curiosity can get the better of us some times, but I do not want you to mess around with anything even _close_ to human transmutation. The more you know about it, the worse," Al said, and Selim wasn't sure what else he could say back. He didn't want to upset the man anymore then he already was. Even if he didn't even look or sound that mad, it was clear that this was something he did not like in the least. There was just a burning behind his eyes that wouldn't leave the boy alone.

"Okay… I promise I wont do anything," he said, staring at the floor now, and Al nodded approvingly. Taking a breath, he looked back up at the man and tried to see if he could ask just one more question. If he wasn't going to get an answer to his first one, at the very least. "But um…" he started, catching Alphonse's attention again quickly. "why do you um… hate it so much, if your dad didn't try it?" he asked.

"Selim, I hate it because it's wrong. You can't reverse the flow of the world, it will only-" before the young man was able to finish his sentence, Selim spoke up again. He wasn't thinking, it'd just slipped out, something clicking in his head at that moment.

"Did you do it?" he asked, his hands almost instantly flying up to cover his mouth. His eyes were wide as dinner plates as he stared at a stunned Alphonse, who froze as soon as the question left the child's mouth. The guilt in his eyes was obvious, and Selim couldn't move from his spot as his hands slowly moved down from his mouth to hang limply at his sides. "O-oh…" he stuttered out.

After a few moments Alphonse sighed and ran a hand down his face. "Selim…" he started, not really sure what he wanted to say. "Look, just listen to me about this, okay? Stay away from that book, I don't know why I didn't just get rid of it ages ago," he mumbled, and Selim nodded obediently. The rain was coming down harder now, and the black haired boy couldn't help but think how fitting it was.

"I'll go make us some lunch, why don't you go find something fun to do until it's done?" Alphonse suggested, the previous strain from before mostly gone. Selim just nodded again, quickly getting up from the couch and nearly running until he was inside of the guest room with the door closed.

That… wasn't what he'd thought he'd find out, and now he felt guilty… It was obviously _not _something Mr. Al was comfortable talking about, but at least he hadn't gotten too upset. If he didn't get upset with something as personal as that, then maybe…

No, the child quickly shook his head to rid himself of the thought. He couldn't ask the blonde man any more questions. Maybe he could tell him about his dreams, and see if he'd say anything on his own, but he wasn't going to start prying into his past again. Human transmutation was illegal and… and really, really bad, according to Mr. Alphonse. He said it was impossible too, and he was the greatest alchemist in the world. If he couldn't do it, then it was probably true.

Sitting on his bed with the old stuffed armor in his hands, he tried to not think about the heavy old alchemy book, or what could have possibly caused the blonde man to do something so desperate.

Most of all though, he tried not to think of why that old armor in his dreams always spoke with Mr. Al's voice…

* * *

Hurray, finally finished this. Sorry once again for the long wait. Also for Selim taking so long in figuring everything out. I know some of you were starting to get a bit impatient with the last chapter. Hopefully this revelation helped move things forwards a bit.

Well, I hope you liked this chapter, and as always reviews are greatly welcomed.


	22. Chapter 22

Hello everybody. Hurray for actually managing to get a chapter done kind of quickly. Well, it didn't take a whole month, how about we just go with that. I've been in a writing mood the past couple of days, so I guess that's why I've been able to get it done.

Chapter 22

The rest of the day went by slowly and awkwardly. Selim wasn't sure what to say, and he could tell that Mr. Al was feeling pretty much the same way. So instead, both mostly tried to ignore the revelation that had happened earlier, although Selim didn't know how good of a plan that was, or how long it would end up lasting. When he called his mother after dinner, he didn't let on that anything was wrong, although the way Alphonse watched him as he spoke was a little unnerving. It was as if he was analyzing his every move, waiting for him to mess up. He wasn't used to Mr. Al being the one to look at him like that.

When night fell, the black haired boy found that he couldn't sleep, and laid in his bed staring at the ceiling as a result. He didn't care that Mr. Alphonse had done a human transmutation, and he didn't want him to think he judged him for that or anything. Sure, he was curious about the incident, but it didn't make him think any less of the man. He was still the greatest alchemist in the world after all, and had helped take care of him for as long as he could remember.

Selim sighed and pulled his pillow over his head. He didn't know what to do. It felt like everything was trying to tear his mind apart until he couldn't think it anymore. He'd yet to get any answers about what homunculus really are, and he doubted he would now. Mr. Al certainly wasn't going to answer his questions, and he didn't know who else he could turn to.

Sitting up, he let the pillow fall off his face and into his lap before pushing himself off his bed and walking as quietly as he could out of the spare room. He didn't hear any signs that the blonde man might still be awake, and allowed himself to creep down the hallway and into the alchemy study. Once inside, he went over to the corner of the bookcase. He didn't know what he was doing, he was suppose to stay away from that book, especially after what had happened today.

Despite the fact that he'd given into his temptation so easily, when he looked down he saw that the space when the old, dust covered tome had been was now empty. He tried not to let himself feel any disappointment at this fact. He shouldn't be looking at that book in the first place. Human transmutation had nothing to do with him, and Mr. Al said it was a horrible thing, and he was speaking from experience. He'd also said that he should have gotten rid of that thing years ago, so really there was no reason for him to be surprised that it was missing now.

Shaking his head, the boy quickly made his way back to his room and into bed once again. Even… even if there was something different about him, which he was now certain there was, maybe he shouldn't let that consume his entire life. Maybe it would be better if he just try to figured this out once and for all and put it behind him.

Even though some part inside of him was saying that it was a bad idea, that he shouldn't let anyone know what was going on, he managed to get it to stay quiet, at least for now, and was somehow able to finally fall into a light sleep.

The nightmares didn't leave him alone this night though. Instead, he found himself in dimly lit areas, with those sharp shadows flying everywhere. He couldn't comprehend what was really going on, the way that the flashes of scenes sprang in front of his mind like a tornado clouding his thoughts. Horrible pictures of people being ripped to shreds and eaten by the pure blackness with eyes and mouths. It went too fast for him to really see who it was being brutally murdered, and when he woke up his entire body and mind felt numb.

It took everything the child had to keep himself from screaming at first. Things were already strange with Mr. Al. He didn't want to wake him up with the nightmares again. Slowly, very slowly, he managed to calm himself down just slightly. Those shadows… monsters… they weren't going to hurt him. Somewhere inside of himself, even if he doubted whether or not they even existed, he knew that fact was true.

Even though he never screamed, a few tears did manage to work their way past his eyes, which he just ignored at first. It was only when he heard the door open, and realize that it was late enough for Mr. Al to be awake did he frantically try to wipe them away, although he could tell that it was already too late. Even with the salty water gone, his face was probably still red and puffy.

"Selim? What's wrong?" the blonde man asked, rushing into the room, not bothering to shut the door behind him and sitting down on the bed. The child quickly tried to regain his composer, although before he'd gotten the chance to say anything, Alphonse started talking again. "Was it… because of yesterday? Selim, I'm not mad at you. You didn't know," he apologized, but Selim shook his head.

"N-no… It's not… I'm sorry," the black haired boy mumbled, not really able to get the words out properly. Alphonse just nodded and stared at him, waiting for the child to regain control enough to explain why he was upset, if it wasn't due to the events from the day before. Finally, Selim sighed and wiped his eyes one last time before looking up at the young man. "I… I just had a bad dream. It's nothing important," he said at last, and Al nodded again.

"Do you want to talk about it?" he asked, just like he had the last time he'd found the boy after one of these dreams. Selim was about to say no. It was practically instinct, but he caught himself beforehand and started to actually think about it. Last night he'd thought that it might be a good idea to just get everything out in the open, and put an end to all the secrets taking over his life. Maybe… maybe if he told Mr. Al about his dreams, he would tell him that he was just making a big deal out of nothing, explain it all reasonably, and he would be able to move on with his life once and for all. Overcoming the strange fear bottling up inside of him, he nodded.

"I keep having these dreams… they're really scary, I don't like them…" he managed to get out, trying to hold back the tears again. Usually he was able to contain himself better than this, he didn't know why he was breaking down so hard right now. Everything just seemed to be coming to a forefront, and he couldn't deal with it by himself anymore.

Alphonse rubbed his back in an attempt to comfort him as he waited for the boy to go on. After a few minutes, Selim managed to get up enough courage to begin explaining just what those dreams actually consisted of. They were just bad dreams after all, and Mr. Al had watched after him since he was little, there wasn't any way that they would change anything. He'd just tell them they weren't real, and everything was going to be alright, and then it would be.

"People… get killed a lot," he started, noticing the blonde's eyebrows rise slightly, which was understandable. Normal kids don't dream about murder. "They get cut up by something I can't really see, with eyes and mouths and it kind of looks like spikes, but it's all black… and a lot of other stuff happens too. Mr. Edward is in them sometimes, usually trying to attack me…" he explained, staring down at his sheets the entire time. When he looked up, he couldn't keep his breath from hitching.

Mr. Alphonse's face looked like he'd seen a ghost. Selim swore that he'd never seen the man look more pale, and his eyes seemed about ready to tumble out of his head. Panic began to fill the child, although he wasn't even sure why. Instinctively he started to push himself away from the young man, unreasonable fear filling him. Of course he would be surprised, those were disturbing dreams. He shouldn't be this scared. Despite this, he found himself shaking his head and trying hard to be able to form sentences.

"I-I'm sorry! I don't… I don't know why I have those d-dreams! Please don't be mad!" he managed to stutter out. Through watery eyes he was able to see Alphonse be the one to try and quickly regain his composure this time, although it was only about halfway successful.

"Selim, I'm not… I'm not _mad,_" the blonde man said after a few moments, but that didn't still the strange fear in the child, who backed up farther. Why was he so scared? Mr. Al would never hurt him, right? The image of that huge armored man flying at him, red flashes of alchemic light sparking as pillars of stone shot around the battle field flashed in his mind, and the boy flinched away despite himself.

Alphonse just stared at him practically helplessly as he tried to think of what to do. Selim was leaning up against the wall now, so there wasn't any way for him to get farther away, but that didn't exactly help either boy. Al just sighed and ran a hand through his hair, wishing that everything wasn't as complicated as it felt. He knew the… orders, of what to do if something like this happened, but quickly pushed those out of his mind in order to just try to consol the child.

"Hey there, what are you afraid for?" the blonde asked softly, managing to get Selim to look up at him hesitantly. "There's nothing to worry about. Those are just some very bad nightmares. Haven't I told you that you can come to me with anything?" he asked, and couldn't help but smile as the boy nodded and some of his fear started to lessen.

"So… you're not… mad?" he asked, and the blonde man quickly shook his head.

"Of course not, why would I be mad?" he said, and Selim just stared down at his lap. He had no idea why he'd been so afraid of how the young man would react. He made sense. They were just dreams, why was he making such a big deal out of them? Slowly, a smile started to spread across his face. He was right, he told Mr. Al about his dreams, and he said exactly what he hoped he would. They weren't real, and he had nothing to worry about. Selim ignored the pricking voice in the back of his mind telling him that wasn't true to speak.

"I don't know. I guess I was just… scared from the dreams. They really aren't real?" he asked, knowing that it was childish, but he just had to be reassured again. Alphonse smiled and nodded before standing up off the bed.

"Not at all. Now, why don't you get dressed and I'll go make us some breakfast," Alphonse suggested, and Selim quickly nodded and watched as the man walked out of the room before changing into a new outfit and putting his pajamas into his dresser.

He felt like a weight had been lifted off of him when Mr. Alphonse had told him that those dreams weren't real. He could just ignore the horrible visions, and maybe they'd go away eventually and he could just live his life normally. The voice in his head wasn't being any less persistent, but he just kept ignoring it. He didn't need to listen to it, after all, why would Alphonse lie to him?

As he came into the kitchen, he could smell the eggs and bacon that the blonde was cooking and sat happily at the table and waited for them to finish. Alphonse glanced back and smiled at him, although these was an uncertainty in his eyes, but Selim didn't catch it before he turned back around to tend to the half cooked food.

The young man just had to tell himself that it really was going to be okay, like he'd told the boy it would be. It would definitely be worth the lies if it was. He obviously didn't really understand what those scenes from his dreams were. As long as he continued to believe that was all they were, then it really would be fine. He was a good kid, there wasn't anything that was going to convince Alphonse differently.

He tried to tell himself that he wasn't letting his emotions for the child get in the way of his better sense.

* * *

Finally, something you've all been waiting for, although I wonder if it went how you thought it would. What, did you think Al would just turn over a little kid who's clearly upset and confused that he'd been watching since he was little to probably be killed? This chapter was fun to write though, even if I did keep getting distracted all the way through, the biggest one being the uploading of the yugioh tenth anniversary movie abridged. And yes, it was super special awesome.

Well, as always, I hope you liked the chapter, and please review.


	23. Chapter 23

Ahh, I'm so sorry! I did not mean to wait over two months to update. Lots of stuff happened, and I didn't even get any time to write over winter break. It's finally here though, so I thank all of you who waited patiently for me to finally just sit down and write this.

Chapter 23

Alphonse Elric slumped down in his desk chair, smothering his face in his hands. The young adult was still at a complete loss for what to do. The events from the morning replayed in his head for what felt like the umpteenth time, and he fruitlessly attempted to figure out what the best thing would be for Selim.

Those dreams… they were obviously terrifying him, but it looked like all of that worry and fear had evaporated from his mind once he was told that they weren't real. Al couldn't help but feel uneasy about the lie, but there was no way he could have told him anything else. Not only would Selim probably have been completely traumatized, but who knows what kind of effects would have happen to him if his memories really started to come back. The blonde liked to believe that the monster he fought all those years ago was really gone, but he knew there were reasons why the military was being so cautious with the child.

Al sighed to himself and leaned back in his chair. Maybe he should talk to Ed about this? He might know what to do. The young man frowned to himself as he thought of past experiences with his brother and Selim. They were never very close , even if Ed was trying to warm up to him a bit more lately. He'd always been clear about his distrust though, what if Ed thought it was best to turn him into the military?

No, there was no way he was going to do that. Not until he was absolutely sure that the Selim he'd been taking care of for all these years was really gone, and that monster was back. He wasn't going to end a child's life on a hunch. Especially not one that trusted him as much as he did.

It was hard for the young man to not feel just a bit paranoid about the entire situation though. What if this whole thing was an elaborate plan Pride had until he managed to gather up enough strength and destroy them all? Al quickly knocked that idea out of his mind. If that was the case, there would be no reason for him to mention those dreams and deliberately add suspicion onto himself.

He was just barely able to keep himself from flinching when the study door opened and Selim peaked inside. It was slightly dark in the door, and the light from the hallway made it seem like the child's shadow was miles long. Al knew it was just a trick of the light and his overactive imagination, but it was still there, and it took him a few moments to pull his eyes away. It was just a normal shadow, there was no unnatural solidity to it.

"Is everything okay?" Alphonse asked. Selim had seemed like he'd mostly, if not completely recovered from when the blonde had found him that morning, but you could never be too sure. Selim nodded though, any sign of his crying earlier gone.

"I was just wondering if I could go outside for a little bit?" the black haired boy asked, and Al quickly nodded. Smiling, he shut the door again, and Alphonse waited until he could no longer hear his quiet footsteps going down the hallway before releasing the breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding. There was no reason to fear that child. He was being irrational, and he knew that Selim was able to pick up on the fear people had of him and what a negative effect it had on his psyche. He wasn't about to be added to that list.

Selim smiled to himself as he walked through the small garden in Mr. Al's backyard. He should have told the man about his dreams when they first started happening. It would have saved him a lot of worrying, and Ethan probably wouldn't be grounded right now. There wasn't anything he could do about the past though, so it would probably be best to just focus on the now.

His dreams weren't real. He couldn't believe he had ever been silly enough to believe otherwise. Selim pointedly ignored the strange night where he and Ethan had nearly been attacked by those animals, and their brutal savoir. It had to have been something else. Mr. Al wouldn't have lied to him. Despite his scared look when he explained the dreams (scared, not disturbed like a normal adult would have been) he must have told him the truth.

Selim frowned to himself as unwanted questions started piling up inside his head. Since his dreams weren't real, then why was that awkward fear and tenseness there with people like Mr. Edward? What had saved them that night? Even if they were nothing more than figments of his imagination, why was he having those dreams in the first place? They still weren't something that normal kids would have. They were far too grotesque and disturbing for regular kids to make up.

Selim's eyes widened as a possible explanation came to him. Was there… something wrong with him? The black haired boy quickly tried to rule out that idea. If there was something wrong, then he wouldn't be able to realize that, right? He'd be too insane or something. The more he thought about it, the less sure he was.

It wasn't long before Selim left the outside garden and was back standing in front of Mr. Al's study door again. Today had been good so far. His dreams weren't real. Only now he had no reason as to why he was having them in the first place. If he'd never been through something horrible and traumatizing like that, then why didn't he have normal dreams like other kids. Once again, he wanted to ask Mr. Alphonse something, but was afraid as to what the answer might be.

Taking a deep breath, he told himself it would be best to get it over with now than agonizing over it forever like he'd done before. Peaking inside, he saw that the blonde man was still hunched over his desk, and wondered if it would be a good idea to interrupt him from his work. Before he was able to decide, Alphonse must have heard him, because he was turned around in his chair almost faster than Selim could have noticed.

"Hey there," the young man said happily, and Selim just nodded as he took a few more tentative steps inside. "Is something wrong?" Al asked, seeming to have noticed the child's discomfort this time around. A bit reluctantly, Selim nodded. He didn't want to worry Alphonse, but he just had to make sure.

"Is there something wrong with me?" he asked after a moment. A look of confusion quickly passed over the blonde's face.

"What do you mean?" he asked, and Selim started wringing his hands together as he attempted to explain. He'd always knew he wasn't normal, somewhere inside of him, but if it wasn't some sort of paranormal happening with monsters and demons, he was almost just as afraid of whatever it really was.

"I was just thinking and well… normal kids, they don't dream about people being killed and attacked and blood and just, I was just wondering if there was something wrong with me…" he mumbled out. Al tried to keep himself from sighing. Selim really was a smart kid, he shouldn't be surprised that he managed to get to this kind of conclusion so quickly. Plastering a smile on his face, the blonde started to shake his head. He just hoped that the smile didn't look as fake as it felt, or else he wouldn't be fooling anyone.

"No, of course there's nothing wrong with you. Everyone has bad dreams every now and then," Alphonse reassured, but Selim wasn't able to keep himself from shaking his head. As much as he wished that was true, he knew that it wasn't.

"But this isn't just every now and then, and they aren't normal bad dreams," he argued. This time it was Al's turn to start shaking his head, his expression becoming slightly more stern.

"Selim, listen to me, alright? There's nothing wrong with you," he said. The blonde knew that would not be enough for Selim at all. He was smart. He needed reasons, evidence. Just telling him something wouldn't be able to convince him, and Al could see that as the child shook his head once again. He really was proud of his for this, even if it did cause so many problems when he wished he could just accept what he said as fact.

"Then why am I so different? It doesn't make any sense," Selim tried not to whine, but it really was hard. Alphonse wasn't giving him any straight answers, and he was afraid it was going to end up just like back in the forest, with him even more confused than when he started out. Al sighed under his breath and placed a hand on the distraught child's shoulder. That was all he was now. Just a confused child, absolutely nothing to be afraid of.

"I know it doesn't. Most things don't in life, and I know your smart, but that just makes it even worse, because you want to understand. You need to trust me though when I say that nothing is wrong with you. Being different isn't a bad thing," Alphonse told him, and after a while Selim nodded a bit reluctantly.

"I still don't know why I'm so… wrong," he mumbled. That was the only way he could really see it. Even if Mr. Al had said that he wasn't, inside he could just tell that there was something inherently wrong with him. He didn't think the blonde man was intentionally lying to him though. He probably genuinely believed what he was saying. He didn't understand just how disturbing those dreams truly were.

"There is no why, and I just told you that you're not wrong. I know those dreams are terrifying, but you shouldn't let them consume your life. Just forget them, and I'm sure it wont be long before they stop," Alphonse said. Selim couldn't help but nod and smile slightly.

"Okay," he said quietly. Maybe he should just try and forget all about those dreams, nightmares. All he really wanted was for them to stop happening anyway, and maybe the blonde was right. It made sense. If he obsessed over them, of course they would keep happening over and over again.

Selim ignored the fact that he'd already tied to just ignore it and wait for them to go away. Back then, he still thought they might for some crazy reason be real. Now he knew they weren't, and so they couldn't hurt him. It would be much easier to forget about them and let the terrible images fade away with time. Al was smiling now as well, and Selim tried to pretend that the strange, uncertain gleam in his eyes wasn't there again. He wasn't lying to him, because Mr. Al would never do something like that.

"Good boy, now why don't you go play? I've got a bit of work to catch up on before dinner," the young man said, and Selim nodded before leaving the room. Al wasn't quite able to tear his eyes away from the long shadow the small body cast. He was just being paranoid. It was just the lighting, after all.

Selim wasn't sure how to felt as he walked away from the study and into his temporary room. Mr. Al didn't think he was mentally disturbed or anything, and he kept trying to tell himself that he should be happy. His dreams weren't real, after all. Something wasn't letting him be though, even if he wasn't insane. There were still so many unanswered questions. Maybe he should just listen to Alphonse and try to forget everything. It would certainly be so much simpler if he did.

Flopping down on his bed, the child watched the twisting shadows formed by his hand in the dim light. It would be simpler, but it wouldn't satisfy him. If there was one thing the older man had been right about today, it was that he wanted to understand things. He needed to know why. It didn't seem like he ever would though. Each new answer only gave him more and more questions. It wasn't fair.

And to think, he'd been so happy this morning when Alphonse said his dreams weren't real. He was still happy about that, don't thing he wasn't. Better them being figments of his shaky mental state than real beings that could pop out at any moment and rip his entire life to shreds. Still, even if the threat was a less horrible one, it didn't change the fact that he was still confused and unsatisfied.

His only wonder now though was how much longer he could let himself stay that way before he started trying to dig up answers again.

* * *

And finally, it's finished. Once again, I'm so sorry for the random hiatus. I hope the chapter was at least a little bit satisfying. I know that nothing really actiony happened, it was mostly just the fall out of the last chapter, and Selim realizing that even if his dreams aren't real, things aren't as great as he thought it would be.

Well, thanks for reading, and please review.


	24. Chapter 24

Akkk! I sorry! I have no idea where the time went, but somehow it's been over three months since I last got a chance to update. X_X How did this happen? Well, there was school, and then my computer broke and I had to get a new one, and then more school, and I'm sure a bunch of other things, and this story just kind of fell from my mind. I hope you all forgive me for such a long wait.

Anyway, let's just get on with the new chapter; I've kept you all waiting long enough, after all.

Chapter 24

Despite his attempts to ignore the nightmares, they returned that very night. In this one, he was surrounded by a swirling vortex of shrieking energy, but he couldn't tell exactly what they were. They almost had faces, although they were horribly distorted, matching the sounds that they were making with ease. He couldn't help but wonder if they actually had been people at one time. He wasn't sure. Before Selim could catch his bearings in the red mash a huge new face appeared before him, starting to speak.

This one was clearly human, and someone he had happened upon in his dreams before. Those times though, he hadn't been anything like the almost transparent energy he was now. A physical being, in his distressed haze Selim wasn't really able to remember the details.

The black haired boy couldn't actually hear what he was saying though, but it wasn't long after that before a gigantic version of Mr. Edward burst through the red people-energy, as he quickly decided to call it.

Mr. Edward wasn't like the other giant man though. He was most certainly solid, the only real thing in this place besides himself. He didn't know how he knew that he wasn't just one of the many monstrous screeching things, though.

As the blond man came barreling towards him, the panic that he'd already had seemed to be magnified by a thousand. Thankfully, or else Selim imagined his heart would burst from the fear he felt, before anything else happened he awoke with a jolt.

Lying stiff in his bed, it took almost ten minutes for the child to calm down enough to move and turn on a light. Somehow though, he hadn't cried during that time.

So, according to Mr. Al, none of that ever happened, and he wasn't insane. He tried to wrap his mind around that reasoning, but it was hard. He really couldn't think of any other explanation, but at least trying to figure out why the nightmares were happening was actually managing to distract him from the fear a bit.

The only thing was that he couldn't figure anything out. Any hints he had were turning into dead ends, and without that old human transmutation alchemy book, he doubted he would be able to find any knew ones. Even though logically, his search should be over. Mr. Al wouldn't have lied to him, after all. He would have told him that there were some things that he wouldn't understand until he was older, or that he couldn't tell him if it was something he couldn't. He wouldn't have taken to lying though, that wasn't how the blonde man worked.

By the time that morning came, he'd yet to keep himself from thinking about the dreams and shadows. He was almost positive that his earlier wondering about how long it would take him to hold out before he went off searching for the answers to questions he didn't know wouldn't be too far off. As for right now, however, he decided to keep himself busy by going to meet Mr. Alphonse, who he could hear walking around in the kitchen down the hallway.

"Good morning," he said as he walked into the room. He'd been awake for several hours now, but had yet to come out to eat anything. Despite this, he wasn't really that hungry, but appreciated anything that Mr. Al would make at any rate. The blonde man smiled down at him as he opened a few cabinets and took out what he needed to cook them both a breakfast.

"Morning, how was your night?" Alphonse asked. Selim offered him a smiled, making the split second decision to not tell him about the nightmare. He didn't know why he did it; he might have just been so used to not telling anyone about them that it was second nature to keep the dreams a secret. Or he just didn't want to worry the young adult by telling him that despite everything they were still happening, he wasn't sure.

"Good, you?" he answered. The two talked about nothingness until they finished eating. Al promised that he would teach the black haired boy more alchemy after dinner, which did lift Selim's spirits slightly. Alchemy was a good distracting mechanism, although that still meant he had several hours to himself to deal with before he was able to go about using it.

Walking outside, Selim started towards the forest. It still scared him slightly, but it wasn't night, so it was no where near as bad. He just needed somewhere to really think about everything, and since the closest he'd gotten to figuring it all out had been in said forest, he figured that it would be his best shot.

At what, he didn't know. Why he was still trying to figure it out made no sense after all. He should just trust what the blonde man had said and forget about all of this, but he already knew that was something he just couldn't do, no matter how much he actually wanted to.

Walking among the trees, he made sure to not go too far inside as to not get lost like Ethan had. After all, even if it was night, the blonde boy had lived here his entire life, while Selim had only been around for a little over a week and a half now. It still surprised the boy how short the time he'd been here really was. Still, he had to be careful because of that, or else it would just end up causing everyone else to get worried and having to go out to look for someone for the second time that week. Not something he wanted to cause, not in the least.

Once he reached a certain clearing, he stopped and frowned slightly. It was the one where he and Ethan had been attacked that night, but other than that there was nothing special about it. He's already looked around; there weren't any of the remains left from the mutilated animals. Some other forest creatures must have since taken them up as food.

Leaning against one of the trees, the young boy closed his eyes. He tried to conjure up the same feeling as that night. The intense fear that had gripped him, and the utter need to defend himself. To live.

Sighing, he just couldn't recapture the emotion. It had been too in the moment. Shaking his head, he decided to try something else instead. Even if Mr. Alphonse had said that those dreams weren't real, and he knew that he adult wouldn't lie to him. It wouldn't hurt to try though. After all, he'd attempted before, and it never worked, why would now be any different? Maybe just this one last time, and he would be able to put all of this behind him as some kind of bad dream.

That's all it really was, anyway.

Taking a deep breath, he tried to imitate the same feeling he had in his dreams sometimes, whenever those horrible shadows would appear. He hadn't attempted to actually do something like this in a long time, not since he'd first started to have them. In the beginning, the dreams were disturbing, but not really that bad. They'd definitely gotten worse over time though, and he quickly stopped attempting to bring anything from them into the real world.

As he concentrated now though, something unexpected happened. Unlike the nothingness that he remembered from his previous attempts, he could feel a distinct shudder and shift going through his entire body, and immediately opened his eyes. Breaking any attempt, he practically froze in place.

He'd felt that feeling before, when the animals had attacked that night, as well as when he'd went to that old burned house. Whenever his life had been in danger. Gulping slightly, he tried to focus himself again, ignoring the way that his hands were shaking from the fear.

Mr. Al wouldn't have lied to him. Those dreams were not real.

Despite this reassurance, Selim quickly left the clearing, walking in any direction that would lead him away. He knew that he had to keep an eye out so that he wouldn't get lost, but that was started to get pushed back in importance in his head. He'd be able to find his way out, he just had to go whatever direction he'd went the first time backwards.

"They aren't real… they aren't real…" he repeated to the open air. He felt like he actually had to say it to make it true, but even that wasn't working as much as he wished it would. A soft wind started blowing through the forest, and the child decided to sit down, leaning against a tree in an attempt to calm himself.

Going over what had happened, it still hadn't proved anything, actually. He'd gotten too scared and stopped before he was able to really find out anything. That was what he wanted to do, right? To figure out once and for all what all of this really meant. If he didn't brace himself and really go through with everything, then there would never be a final answer. No matter what Mr. Al told him, there would always be a doubt, especially now.

Digging his fingers into the soft dirt, he tried to focus on the strange, shifting pull feeling that had happened before. It didn't take as long for him to get a response this time, what felt almost like the core of his being shifting downward. Clenching the ground harder, his eyes were tightly shut and he was just barely able to keep himself from chickening out for a second time.

He had to find out. If Mr. Al was lying to him, if somehow, he really wasn't human, and this was the only way.

Releasing one clump of dirt from his vice like grip, he wasn't sure what he was doing, acting on instincts alone now. Flinging the arm forward slowly, he felt the shift move with him. Breathing deeply, he was just barely able to open one eye, searching around hesitantly for any sort of change in his surroundings.

When he caught sight of it, his other eye flung open almost immediately, allowing him to focus solidly on the quivering mass in front of him.

It wasn't exactly like how it appeared in his dreams, no terribly sharp teeth or glaring eyes, just a black mass, shaking almost as bad as he was.

Selim wasn't even sure if he was breathing anymore, focused solely on the physical incarnation of shadows in front of him. His mind was stuttered to a halt, repeating the same two things over and over again like some sort of chant. It was real. Mr. Al had lied to him. It was _real_.

The black haired boy wasn't even able to acknowledge the lightheadedness that had overcome him for the short amount of time before he completely lost control, crumpling to the side. Barely a few seconds after he hit the ground, the black shadow retracted back inside of him, disappearing from the world as if it had never even been there at all.

* * *

Hurray, after such a long time, we finally have a chapter. Sorry it was so short, but hey look, stuff happened! Kind of. Selim has finally figured out that his shadows are really real, so um, yay for him. Although he doesn't feel very yay at the moment.

Like always though, hope you guys liked the chapter, and I'll definitely try to get the next one out much sooner. Please review and tell me what you think.


	25. Chapter 25

Hello everybody. Finally I managed to get a chapter out at a relatively normal time frame instead of forcing you all to wait forever. I figured that the semi cliffhanger of the last chapter wouldn't be a very nice place to do something like that anyway. And so here's the next installment, and we've reached 25. That's a pretty big number.

Chapter 25

Very slowly Selim started to feel himself coming to, not actually comprehending the situation he was in at the moment. As he continued to leave the fog of sleep, small bits and pieces of everything started to become apparent to the child. He was outside, and almost positive somewhere in the forest. Pushing himself into a sitting position, he tried to remember the circumstances of his falling asleep in the first place. Something inside him said it wasn't normal, and that wasn't just because he doubted he'd end up passing out in the middle of the forest if he could help it.

The paralyzing fear that ran through him when the memory came back felt like someone had pored ice water down his back.

Pulling his legs up against his chest, Selim tried to keep himself from shaking too badly. M-maybe it hadn't actually happened. He could have fallen asleep, and all of that was j-just another dream. Burying his head into his knees, the black haired boy knew that he was lying to himself. That had been real. Undeniably, physically happened, and now… a-and now…

A choked sob escaped him, and he desperately tried to hold back the rest of the oncoming breakdown. He wasn't anywhere close to being able to, and huge streams of tears started running down his face, each gasping breath wracking his small frame.

This couldn't be happening. He wasn't a monster! H-he was just a normal boy, he didn't want any of this! Why did Mr. Al lie to him? It wasn't _fair_. None of this was fair!

Selim had absolutely no idea how long he sat there bawling his eyes out, but he really didn't care about that. His mind was a million miles away from when he would have to be anywhere. Slowly, he started to try to come out of the depressed and horrified panic he felt trapped in and try to figure out what was going on. Just what was the truth, and how many of the things he trusted as fact were really lies.

Despite his attempts to regain his composure, Selim couldn't quite get himself past the very first step of acknowledging that those horrible shadows were actually real. His thoughts would quickly spiral away from him with that. Telling him that he was a monster, that every horrible thing that had happened in those dreams were real. That he'd killed people; was cruel and dark and merciless. It was a losing battle then to stop the tears from falling once more.

When he'd finally managed to keep himself from crying for an extended amount of time, the sun was far in the west. He'd… he'd need to get back to Mr. Alphonse soon, or else he would start to worry. Briefly, he entertained the thought of running away, but decided against it. He had no idea how to take care of himself all alone, and he probably wouldn't be able to stay hidden for very long. If Mr. Alphonse didn't end up finding him, then his guards would probably come back to.

Those guards… it made sense now. _Everything _made sense now. The strangeness he'd always felt around others, and the tension certain people seemed to have. The way Mr. Edward hated him, and those _terrible, gruesome_ dreams. Even though he had no idea what those shadows were or what exactly they made him (the monster his brain was shouting out notwithstanding) it still managed to link everything together all nice and neatly.

Wiping at the wet streaks running down his face, he pushed himself off of the ground. He didn't want to, but he had to go back. He couldn't let anyone else know what he'd found out. Looking around his surroundings, he didn't even understand how he managed to feel worse realizing he had no idea which way he was supposed to go anymore.

A-at least now he had an excuse as to why he looked like he'd been sobbing. He'd gotten lost and scared in the woods… He hadn't meant to, and was afraid that Mr. Al would be mad at him considering what had happened to Ethan only a few days earlier. It was simple and believable, and would probably end up being true if he wasn't lucky.

Right now, he _highly _doubted he would be receiving any kind of good luck.

Picking a direction, he started on his way, pretending that he wasn't slightly hoping that he would get even more lost and could put off going back and having to face Mr. Alphonse again.

He'd just outright lied to him. When the boy thought about it, he could understand why he did it, but that didn't mean he could get over it that easily. He'd always trusted the young man. Now though… he doubted anything he told him was the truth. What if he didn't even care about him, really? This whole babysitter thing he'd been doing all of his life might have just been the easiest way to have a powerful alchemist keeping an eye on him. In case he found out the truth Mr. Al would be there to… to kill him? Maybe. Probably.

He could feel the tears pricking at his eyes again, and quickly started wiping them away. He _had _to get a hold of himself. His life could very well be on the line, and so he had to make it seem like he was more or less fine.

He wasn't a normal little boy, so he couldn't afford to sit around crying like one.

Taking a few deep breaths, he was able to keep himself from completely crumpling like before. Rubbing the back of his hand against his cheeks, he managed erase the few tears that had managed to escape. He knew that his face was probably all red and his eyes puffy and bloodshot, but at least it would be something to not have actual tears.

Selim was slightly surprised when the edge of the first came into view. He hadn't come out at the same spot he'd went in, but he was in the town now. It wouldn't be very hard to find his way back from here.

It was practically dark by the time he reached the house, and Mr. Alphonse was waiting outside for him. Staring at the ground, he started towards the older man. He just had to act like he'd gotten lost. There wasn't any reason for him to suspect anything else happened, after all.

When he was close enough to see his face Selim glanced up quickly, trying to assess the way Mr. Al was feeling. It was pretty clear that he was trying to look mad, but he seemed much too relieved to actually be. The black haired boy thought he would feel more guilty than he actually did, it was rather strange. Of course, his lack of remorse might be because of the feelings of betrayal that were still swirling around inside of him.

"Where have you been? I've been worried sick!" Alphonse asked, and Selim shrugged slightly. Okay, now was the moment when his acting abilities would finally come in handy. If they didn't work, then he really didn't think that he would be able to live much longer. Not with the things he'd done.

"The forest… I'm sorry, I didn't mean to get lost. Are you mad?" he asked. The black haired boy watched as the angry façade Alphonse had been attempting to keep melted away with those words. This was easier than he thought it would be. Now he just had to hold himself together, and everything would be alright. For now, at least.

"No, of course not. Why would I be mad?" he asked, and Selim shrugged once again, keeping his eyes downcast.

"Because of what happened with Ethan a few days ago. I should have known to stay out of the forest…" he mumbled. Mr. Alphonse sighed and nodded slightly, but Selim could tell that he wasn't going to get punished.

"Yes, you should have known to be careful, but I know you didn't mean to get lost. Come on now, I'll heat your dinner up for you. You're probably starving," the blonde man said, and reluctantly Selim nodded and started after him.

That had gone surprisingly well. Even now that they were in the light, Mr. Alphonse didn't try to ask about his bloodshot eyes or the streaks of tears and dirt that he was sure were staining his face. He only suggested that Selim take a bath after he was finished eating and then go to bed. They could pick up with their alchemy studies in the morning, and he would call his mother for him. Tell her that he was worn out from the day and had fallen asleep before getting the chance to talk to her.

The black haired boy readily agreed. There was no way that he could focus enough on alchemy right now, and he wasn't exactly in the mood to pretend to be happy to talk to his mother either. He didn't really think he'd be any more ready to try to learn the complicated science in the morning, especially since he'd have to be with Mr. Alphonse in order to, but he could take on that mountain once he reached it.

When he finished eating, he went into the bathroom in order to clean up as Mr. Al had suggested. Before going into the tub though, he stared at himself in the mirror. He really did look just as a mess as he'd thought he did. The tears and dirt of the forest left lines running down his face, and there was a bit of grass in his hair from when he'd passed out. There was dirt under his finger nails from when he'd been clawing at the ground as well, and his eyes were still tinged red.

Leaning a bit closer to the reflective glass, he pushed his bangs up with one hand. His eyes locked on the strange red spot in the middle of his forehead that he usually tried to ignore. As of right now, he figured that it was pretty safe to assume that it wasn't just a normal birthmark as he'd been told his entire life.

Just how many things had he been lied about, anyway?

Once he finished scrubbing himself down, the child quickly got changed into a set of clean pajamas and went straight into his current room. Collapsing onto the bed, he closed his eyes, but sleep didn't immediately claim him. His mind was much too muddled for that to happen. Instead, he kept running over what had happened earlier in his head, surprisingly able to keep himself from crying as he did.

Selim felt himself get knocked out of his reminiscing when Mr. Al knocked on his door lightly, pushing it open to peak inside at the child. Looking up, the blonde man offered him a smile, which Selim was only barely able to reproduce.

"Do you want me to turn off your light?" he asked, and the boy shook his head instantly. He didn't want to be in the dark. It wasn't that hard to fall asleep with the lights on anyway.

"N-no. Can you leave it on, just for tonight? Please?" he asked, and Alphonse nodded. There was a bit of confusion hidden behind his eyes, but Selim decided to ignore it. He was just an upset and possibly homesick little boy who had an on again, off again fear of the dark. That was all Mr. Alphonse would know.

"Of course. Goodnight," he said, and Selim nodded gratefully.

"Goodnight," he repeated, watching as Mr. Al smiled at him before closing the door. Lying there, Selim listened to the sound of his footsteps as he walked away, until he could no longer hear them and knew that he was once again alone.

Pushing himself into a sitting position, the child had no idea what to do anymore. He was some sort of monster. He'd possibly done hundreds of horrible things and killed and hurt so many people. What had happened to him? How had he become who he is now? Just a normal little kid who didn't know about any of this, and why had anyone let him live in the first place?

It seemed that with the one new answer he'd gotten, a thousand more questions arose to take its place.

Out of the corner of his eye, he caught sight of the worn old armor doll that Mr. Al had given him all that time ago. It had been based off of the armor from his dream, someone that he'd fought, and tried to kill.. Maybe succeeded in killing. He didn't know, and he didn't know why the older man would have chose to give him something like that in the first place. Was there some sort of meaning behind it? Did he think it was funny that something so… horrible as he'd been before was turned into a helpless baby he could kill with one hand?

Selim frowned as he stared at the doll, practically squeezing the life out of it as he continued to think. It was like he was mocking him. Without another thought he flung the doll across the room as hard as he could, it hitting the opposite wall and sliding to the floor.

Collapsing back to the bed, he closed his eyes as tight as he could, trying to block all thoughts from his head. He just wanted to sleep now, not thing about any of this.

It didn't seem like he'd ever get something he wanted ever again, though.

* * *

Poor Selim, he is not having a very good time with all of this. I do hope you all liked the chapter though, and the fact that for once I was not late again. Also, thank you all for the really high number of reviews for the last chapter, I guess that was part of the reason I was able to get this one out.


	26. Bonus Chapter No Reason to Worry

Hello people. Look, it didn't take me an obnoxiously long time to update, yay~ Well, as you may or may not have noticed, this isn't exactly a normal chapter though. Whenever one of my stories reaches 100 reviews, I like to try to do something nice for my oh so wonderful readers and give them a little bonus chapter (although thinking about what to do for this one was much harder than the others for some reason, and not just because I was distracted by Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog).

Well yeah, like I said, thank you for all the readers who've been sticking with me for, dang, it's getting up on two years now, and of course anyone else who's picked up the story along the way.

Bonus Chapter - No Reason to Worry

Alphonse Elric once again found himself distracted from his work. He hadn't heard a peep from Selim for a few hours now, leading him to be almost positive that the boy was still outside somewhere. He knew that wasn't any reason for him to be worried though. Selim was a pretty responsible kid for his age, after all. He wouldn't go off too far or get into anything dangerous, especially not after his little scare up on the hill or with what had happened the other night with Ethan getting lost.

So by all accounts he _should _be able to focus. Not pushing himself out of his desk chair and finding the nearest window to look out to try to spot the black haired boy for what seemed like the umpteenth time.

With a sigh the blonde man noted that he was once again no where in sight. Still no reason to worry. It was a nice day out. Any kid would want to be outside, especially since there wasn't really much to do in his house besides reading or something like that. Sure, he was a pretty reserved boy, but even Selim would start to get bored of doing stuff like that after a while.

Running a hand through his hair, Alphonse very reluctantly admitted to himself that none these was the real reason why he was so anxious to know where Selim was.

The longer he was here, the more nervous the young man found himself getting. That, coupled with the 'nightmares' Selim had told him about left him very fidgety. Al kept trying to tell himself that he was just being irrational. It'd been clear for years now that Pride was gone for good. The security was starting to loosen up, they didn't need any further proof of that then the fact that he was staying with him so far away in Risembul right now. The only reason why Alphonse was still keeping an eye on him was because he genuinely liked the boy. Not in case anything dangerous happened.

So then why was he still so worried?

Well, it was true that those dreams would probably put a bit of fear into the situation no matter how assured he was that Selim was fine. They didn't necessarily mean that he was regaining his memories for certain though, he'd already been through that argument in his head. As long as he thought they were just nightmares, then everything would be okay.

He didn't think that Selim would doubt him when he told the boy that, anyway. What he was remembering was so outlandish, even to him, and he lived through it, that it was very easy to just pretend that none of it had ever actually happened. He would have preferred it all to just be some sort of horrible dream.

Shaking his head once again, the blonde man managed to pull himself away from the window and back into his study. Selim would come back soon, so there wasn't any need to worry. He should probably start dinner soon, and then he could continue with the boy's alchemy studies afterwards.

About twenty minutes afterwards he found himself doing just that, standing in front of the stove while keeping an eye on the door, waiting for the child to walk through. Al couldn't help but he surprised with how long he'd spent outside so far. He wasn't usually this long, and even the few times he did spend the entirety of the day in the yard, he usually checked in several times. At least, that's how it was whenever he watched him back at his house before. Of course, back then, he never left the backyard, and had a few guards around just in case.

Once he'd finished cooking and placed two full plates of food on the table though, Al found himself frowning in worry. It was getting dark out now. He should be back by now. After what happened a few days ago, plus just how worried Selim was normally, he wouldn't have stayed away for so long. Not unless something was wrong.

Walking outside, the blonde wondered if it had been a good idea to have waited this long before giving into the small feeling of dread in the pit of his stomach. What if he'd been right this entire time, and something horrible had happened to him, while he was just waiting here telling himself that he was perfectly fine playing somewhere?

"Selim!" he called out, scanning the sunset colored fields around his house for the black haired boy. Running a hand down his face, he tried to tell himself that there was no reason to start assuming the worse. He could have just gotten lost or had failed to notice the time or some other millions of perfectly innocent reasons as to why he'd stayed out so long.

He wasn't hurt, and he most certainly wasn't evil.

Starting away from his house, Alphonse started looking for the child. All the while he kept telling himself that he was fine. In every way. There wasn't any reason to be so worried about him. He'd find him, and in about three days he'd be going home, and everything would be back to normal once again. Of course, he might have to tell Mrs. Bradley about those dreams Selim had mentioned, but only her. He didn't trust anybody else to not just to the wrong conclusion, and Selim would need somebody to help him out when he wasn't there.

The sun had made it's way down past the horizon by the time Alphonse finally went back home. Maybe the boy had already headed back and was waiting for him now, worried as to where _he _might be. Once he'd gotten back, a search through the house found it just as empty as when he'd left.

Waiting out on his front step, Alphonse wondered if he should go get Ed or someone to help him look. It really was getting dark now, he might actually be hurt or lost somewhere. Just as he'd stood up to start over to his brother's house to ask for help searching, a small figure walking up the dirt road caught his eye.

He tried to ignore the intense wave of relief that flooded his body as he waited for the boy to reach him. Instead, he tried to focus himself to look angry. Selim knew better than to make him worry as much as he had. As he got closer, it became clear that the child had been crying, and was worried about what was going to happen to him now. Sighing very slightly under his breath, Al reluctantly admitted to himself that he was horrible at staying angry at someone, let alone a scared little kid.

Maybe it was for the best. Selim didn't need someone yelling or grounding him right now, anyway.

* * *

I'm going to ignore how painfully short that just was. But yeah, yay bonus chapter. Sorry if it wasn't really all that… good. Like I said before, it was really hard to figure out what to do, so you got what Al was doing during Selim's little breakdown in the forest. Yeah though, once again thanks for all the support for this story.


	27. Chapter 26

Ekkk, sorry for taking so long on this chapter. I was dead throughout all of May, and then June had been pretty busy and then I got sick and yeaaaahhhh. I'm finally pretty much freed up though, so new chapter yay. Once again, sorry, and leaving you after such a short bonus chapter too.

Chapter 26

When the morning finally came, Selim had barely been able to sleep at all. Instead the child kept tossing and turning, sleep catching him for only short bursts of time. Sometimes ten, fifteen, thirty minutes, before he'd wind up awake once more, horrible images and ideas filling his head, despite the fact that he'd yet to sleep long enough to even have a single dream.

The sun had risen now though, and Selim was sitting up in bed after his latest burst of sleep had been disturbed once again. Would he _ever_ be able to have a good night's sleep again? Right now, he wasn't sure at all. He knew now more than ever that he could not let anyone find out what he knew, but the boy was also smart enough to know what horrible effects it might have to keep something like this bottled inside for too long.

Taking a deep breath, Selim pushed himself off the bed in order to get dressed for the day. He could do this. He could act, and put on a smile that everything was okay, if it meant saving his life. If Mr. Al really was here to watch over him, to kill him if he ever discovered those strange black forms, he'd have to make sure that wasn't going to happen.

Once dressed, he headed out of his current room and started towards the kitchen. He could already hear Mr. Alphonse moving about in there, and managed to brace himself to face him. He just had to keep telling himself that everything was going to be okay. He had no idea something was wrong to begin with.

"Good morning," the blond man said cheerfully as Selim came into the room, and the boy offered him a small smile as he sat down at the table.

"Good morning Mr. Al," he responded, "You said we can continue with my alchemy lessons today, right?" Selim asked, trying to find a topic to latch onto other than what had happened to him last night. Besides, alchemy took so much focus to learn, and while he doubted that anything could make him forget about his discovery or what it might mean for him, maybe he could at least focus on something else for a bit. It might not distract him completely, but it was worth a try.

Luckily, Mr. Alphonse nodded, still smiling as he placed a plate of syrup covered waffles down in front of the child.

"That I did. We can start right after breakfast, if you're feeling up to it," the tall man said, sitting down with his own plate now. Selim nodded, forcing a bite of what would normally be a delicious meal down his throat. All this lying and acting was leaving a very bad feeling in the pit of his stomach, but he didn't have any other choice.

"Of course. I have to go back home in three days, right? I want to learn as much as I can before then," he responded in between bites. Alphonse chuckled slightly before nodding once again.

"Well, I'm not sure how much we'll be able to cover in three days, but you really are doing great so far, so I don't think you need to worry much about that," he said. Selim just smiled at the older man once again before turning his attention back to his food.

When the two were finished eating they quickly cleaned up before heading to Mr. Alphonse's study. The blond man still had the beginner's alchemy book placed off to the side of his desk, and he pulled up the stool for Selim to sit on.

As soon as Mr. Alphonse opened the book Selim turned all of his attention to it. He had to focus on this now, and not let himself get distracted with those _other things _he kept worrying about. At least, he couldn't let Mr. Al notice he was distracted, which was basically the same thing.

"Okay now, why don't we start by reviewing what I've taught you so far," the blonde said, and Selim nodded slightly to show that he'd heard. The two quickly managed to go over the meanings for most of the symbols that Al had showed him the other day. Faster than Alphonse had thought they would.

"You really do have a knack for this, don't you? Okay, lets start going over whole circles again, shall we?" Alphonse said, and despite the slight battle going on in the back of the child's mind, he couldn't help but beam slightly at the compliment. Monster or not, alchemy was still something he loved and wanted to learn as best as he could. As far as he could tell, he hadn't known how to use it in those dream-memories either.

The black haired boy quickly pulled himself out of that train of thought though, not about to let himself get distracted down that path. Instead he listened intently as his teacher started going over the most basic of circles from their last lesson.

"Okay, so as I was saying before, energy for the transmutation has to flow in a cycle, and the circle used for alchemy represents and helps to channel this flow. In order to successfully complete a transmutation, you must be able to focus this energy through the object your transmuting, the circle and ultimately yourself, all while analyzing your subject, then breaking it down and rebuilding it in the form you desire," Alphonse said.

"Of course, this is just a basic overview of how a transmutation really works. I know it sounds like a lot, but I'm sure you'll be able to get it, we just need to take everything one step at a time," he reassured, and Selim nodded. It _did_ sound like a lot to focus on at once.

The two continued with the lesson for several more hours. Alphonse couldn't help but find himself impressed with how focused and determined Selim seemed to be the entire time. He was glad that the boy was mostly over his little experience from yesterday, after having gotten a nights rest and knowing that Al wasn't actually mad at him.

He guessed that the ever shortening timeframe was pushing him to focus more as well. Selim had talked about learned alchemy for years now, he probably wanted to soak up as much as he possibly could before having to leave for home.

"Okay, time for a break and some lunch. We can get started again after dinner, how does that sound?" Alphonse asked, and Selim agreed. Truthfully, the black haired boy didn't really want to stop. Focusing on something like this was just barely keeping the horrible thoughts from taking over his mind, but he couldn't exactly say that.

As the two were eating Selim fought to keep his mind off of those other topics he couldn't think about. If he let himself get sucked into them when with Mr. Al, it would be very, very bad if he noticed something was wrong. Instead he searched for something else to latch his mind onto, going over the harder points Alphonse had made during the lesson in his head.

The child wasn't quite able to keep the other thoughts from spilling over though, and found himself frowning into his sandwich.

Mr. Edward could do alchemy in his dreams. No, not just do alchemy, he could do _circleless _alchemy, and was great at it too. Of course, he also seemed to have automail in most of his dreams, and Mr. Al wasn't in any of them.

That didn't mean they weren't real though. He wasn't counting _anything_ out anymore.

"Why doesn't Mr. Ed learn alchemy?" he asked, clearly surprising the blond across the table with the sudden question. It was one of those things that had been off limits, but right now Selim really didn't care about that. He'd asked before, and never got an answer he was happy with.

Alphonse quickly managed to get over his surprise, before sighing very softly and starting to speak, a patient tone to his voice. It was like this every other time the young boy had asked about his brother. Despite the way he tried to hide it, it was clearly not something he liked talking about.

"Ed has his reasons for not learning alchemy. It's a personal matter," he said. Selim nodded, but wasn't about to just give in.

"But he's always telling you that things would be faster if you just used your alchemy to fix them. If he thinks that, why doesn't he just learn and do it himself? You said he's smart enough to," Selim inquired. Alphonse sighed once again, but for some reason pushing for answered didn't scare the child as much as it had before. After all, he highly doubted that anything he found out now would beat his revelation from yesterday.

What in the world could beat finding out you probably aren't even human, after all?

"He says that, but even if he could do alchemy he doesn't mean it. That's another lesson for you. Even though alchemy might seem like an easy solution, you can't use it to fix every little problem you have. If there's another way, even if it seems harder, you should try that way first. You can't become dependent on just one thing," the older man said. Selim nodded, just barely able to keep himself from frowning. Mr. Al was changing the subject, and it'd probably be best to just ignore it for now and not press anymore.

Once they were finished Mr. Al quickly got up and walked into the living room. Before Selim could ask what he was doing he came back and handed a few bills to the slightly confused child.

"You haven't really been down to the town since I showed you around the first day, so why do you go and have some fun until dinner?" he suggested. Selim just blinked as he stared up at him for a moment.

It was hard reconciling this person with the one he was sure was watching him, waiting for him to mess up so that he could kill him. They just wouldn't match up in his head.

"By myself?" he managed to ask after a moment, bringing himself back into the present as fast as he could. Alphonse just nodded, starting back towards the living room, Selim following him.

"If you don't mind. I have a few papers I need to finish up, but I don't want to be bored and cooped up all day," he explained, and slowly the boy nodded. Quickly, he managed to force a smile onto his face, making sure Mr. Al thought he was happy before he left.

"I don't mind. Thank you," he said cheerfully, starting towards the door. Pausing at the entryway just long enough to put on his shoes, he walked out and down the long path that lead towards what consisted of Risembool's main town.

From what Mr. Al had showed him when he'd first given the boy a tour, their really wasn't much to it. When he reached the small street of shops and a couple houses, Selim couldn't help but think he was right about that. It was so different from where he lived now. So much calmer.

That calm wasn't doing much for him now though, just allowing his mind to wander farther and farther as he slowly walked through the first shop he could find.

He just had to last the rest of today, and then it was only two more days and he could go back home. He still didn't know what would happen once he got back there. Back under the seemingly eternal watch of those guards, it'd probably be even worse that having to worry about just Mr. Al.

So far though, his acting seemed to be doing the trick. His temporary guardian showed absolutely no signs that he knew something was up, acting instead like he always did. He even let him go out by himself once again today, and had yet to even mention his escapade from the day before.

Tricking Mr. Alphonse was easier than he'd thought it would be, and despite the sourness it had left it in stomach earlier, maybe even a bit… fun? Well, maybe that wasn't the right word, more like satisfying maybe? It didn't even come close to making the terror and sleeplessness worth it, but it was kind of neat knowing that he could deceive someone who knew him for so long.

After a few hours of mindless wandering, too wrapped up in his own mind to pay any attention to his surroundings, he quickly bought some candy from one of the shops before heading back towards the house.

It was starting to get a bit dark out, and so Mr. Al would probably at least have dinner started, if not almost finished by now. After that they could start up with his alchemy lesson again and distract him for a bit longer.

Then night would come, and he really doubted he would be able to have a very easy time sleeping again. He could focus on that when the time came though. Right now he just had to get his act back on for when Mr. Alphonse saw him.

* * *

Hooray, and once again, super sorry for the extreme delay. Hopefully since it's summer now, I should be able to keep updates back up at a regular pace. Well, Selim is getting more and more cynical, as well as getting better at keeping up his act.

Anyway, I hope you all liked the chapter, and as always please review.


	28. Chapter 27

Hey everybody. Look, I didn't take a huge two month wait to finish up the next chapter, yay. Still probably could have gotten it out a bit faster, but hopefully you all aren't too mad at me for taking a while. Anyway, how about we just get on with the chapter, shall we?

Chapter 27

Selim was right about dinner once he got back to the house. Mr. Al was just setting two plates down on the table when he walked in. He'd quickly turned around to smile at the boy, saying it was just about to go out and try to call him. Selim simply smiled back and nodded, placing the bag of candy down on a table next to the front door before heading to eat.

Sitting down at the table, the black haired child started eating without a word, hoping that Mr. Alphonse wouldn't take that as a sign that anything was wrong or something like that. They were going to do more alchemy lessons after dinner, and that should probably last up until he had to go to bed, which would be good. After that it was just two more days, and then he would be going back home. He couldn't say he was particularly excited about that, but it wouldn't do any good to try to get out of it.

The two of them finished their food rather quickly, having actually talked a bit when Alphonse asked him what he'd done in town and if he'd bought anything. Selim told him about the candy still out on the table, and tried to hand him back the bit of money he still had left over. The blond just shook his head, giving it back and telling him to keep it incase something ever came up. Selim smiled and nodded, putting it back in his pocket for now.

The alchemy lesson went much faster than Selim had wanted it too, once again finding a bit of comfort in distracting himself with the difficult science. Or at least, the black haired child felt that it had gone fast, although in reality it was nearly eleven o'clock by the time the two finally stopped.

"Oh gosh, I didn't realize how late it was already. You'd best be getting to bed, your mother'll kill me if she knew I let you stay up this late," Alphonse said, adding the last part on jokingly. With a slightly forced smile Selim nodded, pushing himself off of his stool and starting towards the door. Before he reached it though, he turned back around .

"We can practice more tomorrow, right Mr. Al?" he asked, slightly relieved with the small smile and nod the blond gave him.

"Of course, now go get some sleep," he answered, and Selim nodded once again before leaving the room for good, quickly making his way to his own and shutting his door behind him.

Once alone the child sighed, changing into his pajamas before curling up in his bed. Just two more days. He didn't know what was going to happen once he got back home. All he knew was that it was scaring him, and he didn't have anyone to turn to anymore. Who in the world was he supposed to _trust _after all this?

Not Mr. Alphonse, no matter how much he wanted to. His mother was in the same boat. There was no way either of them couldn't have known about this. He didn't trust Mr. Edwards _before _all of this started, so he was way out of the question. He didn't have any actual friends he could turn to…

Hesitantly he thought of Ethan. The boy had seemed pretty nice, after all, and he did like him. It wouldn't matter once he went home though anyway, since he lived all the way out here. He was grounded until after Selim left too (something the black haired boy couldn't help but think was probably, if not just a tiny bit, intentional) so it wasn't like he'd be getting a chance to see him either way.

He really _was _alone in this.

Closing his eyes, he pulled the blanket up farther around him. He couldn't let himself think about it now. So what if he was alone? Even if he was being watched now, it wasn't like they could keep up with that forever. Once he grew up, he could go far away and never have to worry about anyone finding out about his strange powers or whatever horrible things he may have done in the past.

That was so far away though… The child quickly shook his head. He couldn't get like that. He could just take it one day at a time, and he'd be alright.

Opening his eyes again, Selim looked at the still lit lamp on his bedside table. Mr. Alphonse might get suspicious if he continued to sleep with it on. Hesitantly, he reached over and switched off the light, fear instantly engulfing him with the blackness that followed.

Selim tried to tell himself over and over again that it wasn't that bad. There was nothing in this darkness that could hurt him. That fearsome black shadow from his dreams was him, after all. For some reason though, that didn't comfort him in the least.

Rolling over in his bed, Selim squeezed his eyes shut tight once again. He just needed to go to sleep. The morning would come much faster then, and he'd be able to stop thinking about all of this again. It was next to impossible to distract himself when the entire world seemed to have turned off with his light.

It still took nearly an hour before the black haired boy was able to fall into a light sleep. Even still, it did nothing to keep his mind out of those tormented thoughts.

He was in a clear, white space. Spinning around, a huge stone door stood floating in front of him. Selim could barely make out what was carved into the stone before his body was spun around against his will once again, swirls and words and something that might have looked like those shadows with terrifying eyes and teeth from his dreams, but he couldn't be sure.

When his eyes focused once again, they were on a strange, featureless being. The only thing distinguishable that Selim could make out was a large, toothy grin on its face. The creature laughed, before starting to speak. Selim couldn't hear what it was saying though, but knew that it had to be something terrifying from the way his body tensed, a cold dread running through him despite having no idea what was going on.

The child wanted to cry out when something from behind grabbed at him, dragging him towards the giant door behind him, but his body seemed to still be in shock from whatever it was that the strange being had said. W-what had happened?

Before he was fully inside the door though, whoever it was in control of his body seemed to have bought himself under control from his fear, setting his face into a glare at the white being. Anger was starting to bubble up inside him as he did, but he didn't say anything, and Selim still felt the terror inside of him underneath it all. Even still, he continued to stare at the figure without flinching, all the way until the huge doors slammed shut in front of him.

Selim's eyes shot open almost the second the doors has closed, the young boy shaking from the fear still deep within him. W-why was he so scared, though? That wasn't _nearly_ as scary as some of his dreams! It wasn't like any of his other dreams either. It was almost as if his brain hadn't finished it, leaving the background and figure blank. Even with the strange and sometimes magical seeming happening in his other dreams, they were never anything like that.

Curling up tighter, none of that seemed to matter. He was still terrified. What had that white thing said to him to make him so scared? Why did it even matter if he hadn't even heard it? If this was like his other dreams, did that mean that had happened as well? Why wasn't there anything there then, if there was nothing around them except for that terrible door?

Where in the world had he _been?_

Taking a deep breath, the child pushed himself into a sitting position as he tried to get back under control. Even if it really had happened, there wasn't any reason to get so terrified. He'd managed to live through whatever it'd been after all. As long as he was still alive, he would be fine.

Glancing towards his window, he could just see the first grey streaks in the eastern sky signaling the slow start of the day. Sighing, he drew his knees up to his chest and tried to think of what he could do. Chances are he wouldn't be able to fall back to sleep, and Mr. Alphonse wouldn't be up for another few hours.

The black haired child remembered the candy he'd bought earlier, still sitting on the table by the front door. He'd forgotten to grab it when he'd went to his room after Mr. Al ended their alchemy lesson. Pushing himself out of the bed, he quietly tiptoed his way down the dark hallway.

A small bit of light was shining into the living room through the windows, just enough that he could make out the small bag still sitting by the door. Walking over, he grabbed it and turned to start back to his room. He didn't know how much candy would help him, but he was kind of hungry, and there was no reason to waste it.

Before he managed to leave the room though, something shining was caught in the corner of his eye. Turning towards it, Selim saw it was just the pictures Mr. Al had set on his side tables reflecting the early morning light. Frowning slightly, he decided to walk over and look at them.

He could barely see them in the low light, but he didn't want to turn on a lamp and possibly alert Mr. Alphonse to the fact that he was awake. Just like the first day he was here, he noticed the way the blond man seemed to disappear at a certain time, right when whoever it was that wore the armor showed up. Whoever it was, he must have been pretty close to them, having been around and appeared in the photos as much as he did. Mr. Al wouldn't even tell him his name though.

And in the dreams, he spoke with the caring man's voice. It was younger sounding than Selim was used to, but still his all the same. He was much too huge to actually be him though, so that didn't make any sense. Of course, a lot of things in his dreams didn't right make sense in his dreams.

Glaring at the pictures slightly, Selim sighed before turning back to his room for real this time. Closing his door behind him, the black haired child sat on his bed before opening the bag and popping a piece of sugar candy into his mouth. It didn't cheer him up nearly as much as he hoped it would though, his mind already locked back on things he desperately wished he could ignore.

No matter how much he thought and tried to work through all of this, he couldn't figure out. It didn't seem like there was any one, simple answer that could explain everything. Scoffing slightly, he threw another piece into his mouth, the last one having dissolved already. Of course there wasn't a simple answer, how could any of this be _simple?_

That dream he'd just had only seemed to make things even more confusing. He couldn't think of how in the world somewhere like that, and something like that could exist. Maybe he'd just had a normal, if very strange, dream, from the stress of everything? As much as he wished that was the case, he highly doubted it.

About an hour later, Selim had found he'd finished the small bag of candy and his head hurt from trying to figure out what was really going on. He was also extremely thirsty now, is mouth dry and slightly sticky from all of the sugar. Waiting a moment, he listened for any that someone might be up. Hearing none, he quickly went out of the room and to the kitchen, poring himself a drink and taking it back to his room without any incidents.

Sipping his drink, Selim waiting in his bed for the morning to get started. He didn't want to be alone with his thoughts anymore. Even having to act and try to deceive Mr. Alphonse was better than not being able to escape his mind. To constantly be slipping into thoughts that the people who he'd thought he could trust, who'd been taking care of him his entire life, had been lying to him this whole time.

Shaking his head, he growled at himself. He was doing it again, no matter how much he was trying to stop. He just wanted a distraction, but even though the sun was up now, it probably wouldn't be another hour before anyone else was awake.

For the third time that morning, he got out of bed. Grabbing his water, he didn't even glance at the stuffed armor still leaning against the far wall where he'd thrown it the other night. Walking out of his room, this time he made his way into Mr. Alphonse study, shutting the door behind him and turning the light on this time.

Placing his water down, he started over to the shelf and grabbed the first book on alchemy he could find. It wasn't the one they'd been working out of, and it certainly didn't look like it was for beginners. Sitting down in Mr. Al's chair, the child pulled his knees up and opened the book in front of him. He didn't care if it was too hard, it'd be better this way. Beginning to struggle through the material, he tried to work it out with the little bit of knowledge that Mr. Alphonse had already taught him.

He just needed a distraction.

* * *

Hooray, more dreams, and Selim only has a few more days left before he has to go home again. Wonder if he'll find out anything else new in that time. Haha, hopefully he does, or else I'd probably get complaints that the story's moving too slowly again.

Well, I hope that you all liked the chapter, and as always, thanks for reading and please review.


	29. Chapter 28

Hey there peoples. Look, I actually managed to update after not a super long wait. I have been in California for about two weeks and just got back though, which did take away quite a bit of my writing time, but now that I'm back I can get cracking again.

Chapter 28

Alphonse woke up the next morning and slowly started to go about his day. Leaving his room, he made his way to the kitchen and started cooking a breakfast for both himself and Selim. The boy was going back tomorrow afternoon, so he should try to make this day as fun as he could for him. He had said that he wanted to study more alchemy today, so they would definitely do that.

Placing two plates full of food down on the table, the blond man tried to think of what else they could possibly do today. Quickly, he walked to Selim's room in order to wake him up. Normally he would let him sleep in, but he figured that he'd want to get as much out of today as he possibly could.

A chill of dread ran through his body when he opened the door to find the room empty. Immediately he bolted into the bedroom, scanning it incase he might just be hiding, or for any signs of breaking in or out. Finding none, he quickly started out of the room.

"Selim?" he called, hoping dearly that he'd get an answer. There was no reason for him to really panic, he might just have woken up and got bored.

The blond man quickly started going through his house when he didn't receive any answer however, checking in every room that he could for the child.

His panicked heartbeat managed to slow once he opened the door to his study and saw the black haired child sitting in his desk chair. Alphonse couldn't help but breath a sigh of relief at the sight of him as he started into the room.

"Selim, what are you doing in here?" he asked, surprised when he didn't get an answer. Coming closer, he saw that the boy's head was slumped onto the desk, an open book acting as a pillow while he slept. The tall man chuckled as he slowly pulled the book out from underneath him and got ready to wake him up.

Before he did though, he caught sight of exactly what book it was that Selim had fallen asleep reading.

What the? Just how in the world did he expect to understand any of this? While it wasn't the most advanced alchemy book Alphonse had in the room, it was still miles above anything he'd taught the boy. Sure, he was moving much faster than Al might have anticipated, but if he could understand this stuff, that just wasn't human!

Very slowly, the blond man placed the book back down on the desk. He couldn't be thinking things like that. Sure, he guessed it was possibly for Selim to really be _that_ advanced, but maybe the boy had just been trying to see if he could understand the higher level alchemy and found that he couldn't. It was perfectly reasonable to think it might just be something like that instead.

"Hey there sleepyhead, time to wake up," Alphonse said quietly, starting to shake Selim's shoulder softly. Reluctantly the boy's head raised and he opened his eyes, looking around the room with a confused expression plastered on his face, as if he couldn't remember ever coming in here. Slowly he turned towards Alphonse, beginning to rub at his eyes in order to wake up a bit more.

"G'morning," the boy mumbled sleepily, pushing himself off of the chair. Alphonse smiled and nodded at the child, starting out of the room with him in tow.

"I made breakfast for us, I figured you'd want to get as much as you could out of your last full day here," he explained. Selim nodded, seemingly more out of instinct that actually processing what the young man was saying. Once the two were seated and Selim started to eat, seeming a bit more awake now, Al started speaking once again.

"What were you doing in my study?" he asked, not sounding angry or anything like that, simply curious. The black haired boy seemed to stall for a moment as he thought, before finally answering him.

"I couldn't sleep. I got bored and decided to go look at some of your alchemy books, is that okay?" he asked. Al smiled and nodded, figuring that it had probably been something like that.

"It's fine, but I sort of doubt that you'd be able to understand the book you picked out with what I've been able to teach you so far. It's quite a few levels above where you are right now," he said, and a bit sheepishly the boy across from him nodded.

"Y-yeah, I didn't really understand anything. I just wanted to see if I could" Selim said. The young boy ate his food rather slowly as he thought. He hadn't meant to fall asleep again in the study, he guessed trying to work though that high level alchemy had taken up more of his energy than he originally imagined it would.

Glancing up at the man across from him, he knew that he'd been lying just slightly now. He didn't understand everything in that book, certainly, but it hadn't really been as terribly difficult as he knew it should have been. Although there were certain things he knew he'd never been taught, some of them just clicked in his head almost as if he had, but had simply forgotten about them.

Once they finished eating the blonde man stood up, asking Selim if he still wanted to have an alchemy lesson despite having looked at some stuff last night. The young boy instantly nodded, following Alphonse back into the study afterwards.

Much to Selim's surprise, and actual enjoyment, the rest of the day ended up being rather fun. Mr. Alphonse had a whole slew of things lined up for them to do, which managed to keep the young boy's mind occupied nearly the entire time. Sure, there were moments when he started to slip back into unpleasant thoughts, but soon enough the tall man would say or do something to distract him once again.

By the time it was night the young boy was actually tired for once. Not wanting to give himself any time to have his mind become worked up again, he quickly crawled into bed and fell asleep.

When he woke up the next morning, it felt strange. At five o'clock today he'd be put on a train heading back home. A sense of dread filled him at the idea. He'd have to deal with those constant guards again, combined with his new knowledge, he didn't know how well he'd be able to handle that.

He knew he had to pack up the few things he'd brought with him, but after breakfast he quickly rushed outside before Mr. Al could stop him. He just needed a few more moments, maybe an hour at most, to try to clear his head before he had to go back.

The black haired boy sighed as he slowly walked down the dirt path. He wasn't human, that much he could probably be certain about. So just what was he? How in the world was he supposed to find out while he was under lock and key? He wanted to ask Alphonse if he could maybe stay longer, but they'd already brought the train tickets. If he tried to run away and hide so that he wouldn't have to go back, he'd just get in trouble.

"Oh yay, I found you!" a loud voice called out, startling him. Quickly, Selim spun around to see just who it was, only to sigh in relief at the sight of Ethan crawling out between several stalks of corn.

"What are you doing? I thought you were grounded?" Selim asked, still surprised and confused by the presence of the younger child. The blond boy offered him a large smile as he answered.

"I snuck out. My parents are stupid if they think I'm not gonna say bye," Ethan explained, sounding rather proud of himself. Slowly Selim nodded, staring at the other boy as a million different options ran through his head.

Could he really trust the hyperactive boy to keep a secret? It would probably be much safer not to tell anyone. After all, Ethan was actually lucky enough to really be a normal kid. He shouldn't try to bother him by pushing his own burden onto someone else and expecting him not to tell anybody. This was just something he had to deal with on his own, no matter how much he didn't want to.

"Hey, Selim? You okay?" Ethan asked, cocking his head to the side as he looked over the silent boy. Reluctantly, Selim shook his head.

He _should_ keep this to himself. He should be strong enough to deal with it all on his own, but he wasn't. He needed to let someone know what had happened, and right now the only person he could trust was the bouncing eight year old in front of him.

"No, I found out something about my dreams," he began to explain. Instantly the younger boy's eyes lit up with interest. Looking down the dirt path, there wasn't anyone around them right now, but Selim didn't want to chance anything.

"Do you know somewhere we can talk where no one else will find us?" he asked, and immediately Ethan started nodded. As Selim slightly suspected he would, the child grabbed onto his arm and started dragging him away. Much to the black haired boy's surprise though, he pulled him straight into the corn field.

"Ow! Ethan? Is this a good idea?" Selim asked, and once again the younger boy nodded, continuing to pull him forward as he answered.

"Yep! No one will find us in here," he said. It wasn't long before the two ended up in an area where a circle of the corn was flattened down, giving them just enough room to move around a bit and not be hit by the stalks.

"It's a hideout! I made it myself!" the blond explained. Slowly Selim nodded, a thought coming to his mind.

"What happens when the corn gets cut?" he asked. Ethan stared at him for a moment, as if he hadn't considered anything like that before. A few seconds later though, the child simply shrugged, not letting it get to him apparently.

"I'll just make it again when it grows back. Now, what did you find out? Something neat? Are the dreams real?" he started asked, and once again Selim nodded. He guessed that it qualified as neat.

"I'm almost positive the dreams are real," he said. Ethan nodded, staring at him intently.

"How do you know?" the younger boy asked. Selim sighed, once again remembering first controlling those strange black forms in the forest. Carefully, the boy took a few steps back, wanting to get as much space in between he and Ethan incase anything went wrong. He didn't want him to end up getting hurt or anything like that. Despite this though, the blond took another step forward towards him as he did, causing Selim to frown slightly.

"Do you think you could stand back, please? I don't really know how to control it yet, and I don't want you to get hurt," he explained. Ethan's eyes were practically the size of dinner plates at his request, but the boy did back up all the same.

Taking a deep breath, Selim tried to concentrate on the feelings of those strange forms inside of him. Just like in the forest, he felt a distinct shift downward inside of his body, causing him to shudder. Quickly getting himself back under control, he focused as hard as he could on the forms, pulling them with his mind out onto the ground and slithering up into the air.

Ethan watched the whole thing, a completely mystified look on his face. The younger boy's mouth hung open in shock as the black form shuddered and twisted in the air, as if he could just barely keep itself from completely collapsing.

Letting the shadow like form do just that, Selim felt it quickly retreat back inside of him, collapsing to his knees afterwards. He wasn't sure if it was from the shock of actually seeing them again, reminding him of so many horrible dreams and possibilities, or just the stress of having to focus so hard to get them to materialize.

"Selim!" Ethan called, quickly running over to him, sitting on the mat of broken corn stalks next to him. "Are you okay?" he asked, worry clear as day in his voice. Slowly Selim managed to nod. He was fine, controlling the shadows had just given him a small headache.

Ethan's face immediately lit up at that, and he bounced to his feet once again. Selim stayed where he was on the ground, content to just watch the younger boy practically jump around the small clearing as he pulled himself back together again.

"That was so cool! How did you do that? It didn't look like alchemy, was it? Can you do it again?" he started asking. Selim started chuckling at his excitement as he tried to answer all of his questions.

"I don't know, I just focus and it happens. I don't think it's alchemy, it doesn't really have anything in common with what Mr. Al's teaching me," he said, starting to push himself up to stand once again as well. "And I probably shouldn't try it again, it gave me a headache, and I passed out the first time," he said.

He was pretty sure the first time he'd passed out had just been from the shock of it all though, instead of any actual affect it might have had on his body. The blond boy in front of him just nodded though, seeming to accept that as an answered.

"That's still really, really cool though!" he insisted, and reluctantly Selim nodded.

"You can't tell anyone about this, I mean it. If someone found out, anyone, then they might try to kill me," he said, hoping dearly that Ethan would understand the severity of his situation. Once again the boy's eyes widened in shock, and he nodded slowly.

"K-kill you? But why?" he asked, but all Selim could do was shrug.

"I don't know, but they just would. So please, keep this a secret?" he asked once again. This time, Ethan smiled as he nodded quickly.

"Of course! You can count on me!" he declared. Selim couldn't help but smile at his enthusiasm. He certainly did hope he could count on him.

He didn't really have anyone else to turn to, after all.

* * *

And end of chapter. Yay, someone else knows about his shadows now, and Ethan gets another appearance before Selim gets shipped off back home. I do hope you guys liked the chapter. I know some people were starting to say the story's getting a little stale, so I hope that's not really the case anymore. I know that there's not a whole lot of action-fight scenes in this story, so I hope you all like the more emotional drama that it focuses on with Selim instead.

Well, as always thanks for reading and please review.


	30. Chapter 29

Hey people. Can you believe it, this story's been going for two years now. Pretty crazy, huh? I almost wasn't able to get this chapter up on time, since the last couple of days have been pretty crazy for me (found out I'm gonna be an aunt, for one thing) but I managed to find the time to type this up. Well, I'd just like to thank everyone for staying with me and this story for so long, and I hope you like where the rest of this story takes up.

Chapter 29

It wasn't very long after showing Ethan his strange shadows that Selim had to get back to Alphonse's house. It was obvious that the blond haired boy didn't want him to go yet, but Selim still had to pack up everything he'd brought with him, and he didn't want Mr. Al to start worrying for any reason. Plus, he doubted that the younger boy should really stay out too long, his parents were bound to notice he was missing eventually, after all. It would probably be pretty bad if they found he'd snuck out to try to see him too.

Even still, Selim had made sure to repeat over and over again before he left how Ethan couldn't tell _anyone _about what had just happened. Every time Ethan said that he understood, but the black haired boy just couldn't help but worry now. He wanted to trust the younger boy, of course, but it was getting increasingly hard for him to really trust anyone anymore.

Despite all of the hesitance he still managed to make it back to Mr. Alphonse house only about an hour after he'd left in the morning. It was still pretty early, he had plenty of time to pack before he had to be on the train at five.

It was a bit strange thinking that he was leaving. He'd gotten used to the still quiet at night, and just how bright and open everything was in contrast with the city he had grown up in. Even with all of the mental upheaval coming out here had seemed to have caused him, he decided that he was going to miss it.

At the very least, he didn't have any guards out here. It was so strange how something he'd never questioned for a moment in his life seemed so imposing and terrifying once it'd been taken away for a short two weeks.

Well, there was no helping any of that now. Walking inside of the house, he started into his room and pulled his suitcase out of the corner and quickly starting to pack up the few things he'd brought. Mr. Al had did his laundry last night, so everything was clean for when he got back home.

Once he was finished, Selim did a final check around the room to make sure he hadn't missed anything. Out of the corner of his eye he caught sight of the stuffed armor still leaning up against the wall where he'd thrown it the other night. He hadn't picked it up since then. That had been the longest he'd ever gone without sleeping with it.

Frowning, he walked over and picked up the doll. Mr. Alphonse would get suspicious if he didn't take it with him. Although really, he didn't exactly need it anymore. If anything, it just confused him now and continued to remind him of those horrible dreams.

"You know, you used to love that doll," Alphonse voice said, startling the young boy quite a bit. Flinching, he quickly spun around towards the door, finding Mr. Al leaning against the doorway. A slightly amused look was on his face as he started at the child, chuckling slightly. Shaking his head, the blond started into the room, taking a seat on the edge of the bed.

"I guess you're getting a bit too old for stuffed toys now though, huh?" he asked, bringing Selim back to his senses. The child quickly started shaking his head, although he wasn't even sure why. He _was_ getting too old for dolls, after all.

"I still like him, even if I don't sleep with him every night anymore," he argued despite this. Alphonse smiled and nodded, standing up again and walking over to his still opened suitcase.

"Well, that's good. I'd hate to see you grow up too fast. Are you almost done packing?" he asked, and Selim quickly nodded. Going over to his small amount of luggage, he placed the doll inside before zipping up the last of the pockets.

"Yeah, all done now," he said, smiling up at the older man slightly. Even if everything really had been a lie, some sort of façade in order to watch over him, make sure he didn't hurt anyone, he probably wouldn't be seeing Mr. Alphonse for quite some time after this. He was always traveling all over the place, having been able to see him for as long as he had just now was basically unheard of.

So, he guessed it wouldn't hurt too bad to pretend that everything really had been real, at least until five o'clock came and he had to go back home.

"Good, I made us lunch, so how about we go eat," the blond man suggested, and Selim almost instantly nodded. Another thing he would miss he guessed, the cooking. Although he was starting to long a bit for some of the things his mother cooked, so at least there would be that to make up for it.

The two actually managed to talk happily while they ate. Selim wanted the last few hours he had here to be as fun and enjoyable as he could make them. Sure, his doubts were still ever persistent in the back of his mind, telling him that it was useless to cling to something that had never been real to begin with, but he quickly tried to squash those as best as he could.

"Oh yeah, I almost forgot, I have one more thing that you need to pack before you leave," Alphonse said, standing up from the table once both he and Selim had finished eating. The black haired boy quickly followed suite, head tilted in confusion as he followed the older man.

"There is? Did I leave something out somewhere?" he asked, trying to remember if he'd taken anything out of his room, or maybe if Mr. Alphonse had another laundry load of clothes washed that Selim had forgotten about somewhere. Alphonse just shook his head though, a small smile on his face as he lead the boy into his study.

"I know I wont be around as much to help explain everything to you, but I'm sure there's quite a bit you could figure out on your own. Plus, it's really not of any use to me anymore, so it would just be a waste here gathering dust," Alphonse said, handing the beginner's alchemy book that he'd been teaching Selim out of over to the boy.

Selim just stared at the old book for a moment, surprised at the sudden gift. Completely ignoring any of the whispered doubt in the back of his mind, a large grin broke out onto his face.

"Really? I can keep it?" he asked, unable to hide the excitement in his voice. Once again Alphonse chuckled slightly as he nodded. The black haired boy hugged the book to his chest at the answer. "Thank you! I'll go put it in my suitcase right now," he said, quickly running from the study without waiting for an actual answer.

At least he'd have something to distract himself with once he got back home now. Without Mr. Al there to explain things, it would probably be a lot harder, but he was actually pretty okay with that. The book would last longer that way, and would be all the better to keep his mind occupied.

The rest of the day ended up passing very quickly, or at least to Selim it did. It seemed like almost no time at all had passed before it was four thirty and Mr. Alphonse was saying that they should start heading down to the train station.

Selim was quiet for almost the entire walk there, in quite a bit of contrast to how he'd actually been during most of the day. Luckily, Alphonse had decided to fill the silence, repeatedly telling him to be careful on the train, to make sure he got off at the right stop, not to worry, although the last one seemed a bit more appropriate to tell himself instead. It was the first time Selim had ever ridden on a train by himself though, and really only the second time he'd been on one at all, so he could understand the concern.

When Selim did talk, it was just to tell Mr. Al that he would be perfectly fine. His stop was the first one in Central, after New Optain, he'd be sure to get off there. It seemed to relieve the tense man slightly, but Selim guessed it was only natural for him to be so nervous. His mother would completely panic if he didn't show up at the station when he was supposed to, after all.

Once they got there, his train was already pulled into the station. One of the workers immediately recognized Alphonse and let him walk the young boy onto the train and to his seat, helping him put his luggage away as well. One of the guards and more likely than not his mother would be there to help him once he actually got to Central.

"I know I don't have to tell you to be good for your mother, so I'll just say how great it was being able to have you here," Mr. Alphonse said. Selim smiled as brightly as he could, although it was just a little bit forced. He didn't know if it was because of how much everything had changed in such a short amount of time, or if it was because he was genuinely sad about having to leave.

"Thank you for letting me stay with you, it was really fun. I can come back again soon, can't I?" he asked. It was half because he actually wanted to, half a bit of a test. How much didn't Mr. Al trust him? Would he even want him back in his home?

The blond man smiled happily as he nodded though, not a bit of hesitance in him that Selim could see at all.

"Of course, you're welcome to come down any time I'm home. That is, if your mother's ever willing to part with you again," he said, and Selim found himself chuckling slightly. Yeah, he did doubt that his mother would want him to leave for a very long time again anytime soon, but she couldn't keep him on lockdown forever.

Selim had to force himself not to frown at the thought that actually, she probably could.

"Well, the train's going to be leaving soon, so I need to get off. Make sure to be safe, I'll see you soon," Alphonse said, leaning down and hugging the child as he did. Selim quickly hugged him back, all of the confusion and doubt practically spilling over as he did so.

Would he really ever try to kill him? How could someone as nice as Mr. Alphonse possibly kill someone? How could he trick him so badly? Most of all, he just wondered how much of all of this was just an act, and how much wasn't. It nearly broke him to think that it all might be.

"Bye," Alphonse said, pulling away from him again. Selim forced a smile back on his face as he nodded happily.

"Goodbye," he said back, although his joy didn't sound quite as real as he wished it would. Maybe Mr. Al would just attribute any of that to him being sad about leaving.

Once the blond man started off the train, Selim immediately took to staring out the window. There was hardly anybody on this train, since hardly anyone left Risembool on a regular basis to begin with. He didn't mind that at all though, since he highly doubted that staying for fifteen hours on an overcrowded train to Central would be a very fun time at all.

It wasn't long before Mr. Al came into his sight outside of the train window. It was already open, and Selim found himself waving out to the man. He almost immediately started waving back, smiling over at him.

"Have fun back home," he called to the child, and Selim quickly nodded.

"Thanks again," he said. Thinking for a moment, he quickly added, "Tell Ethan I said goodbye." Sure, he'd managed to get a chance to see him one last time before hand, but it wouldn't hurt to ask Mr. Al to do this. And maybe it would remind him to not tell anyone about his shadows, if he let it known that he was thinking about him.

"Will do," Alphonse said, nodding. It was then that Selim heard the extremely loud horn of the train start to blow, causing him to flinch slightly from the shock. It didn't seem to effect Mr. Al at all though, but that was probably because he was so used to the noise with all of the traveling he does.

The black haired boy could just hear the conductor calling for any last passengers trying to make the train, which there weren't at such a tiny stop. It wasn't long as all before it slowly started pulling out of the station, Selim watching as he started rolling away from Mr. Al.

"Bye," the blond called one last time. Selim smiled and started waving out the window now, trying to look as happy as he possibly could for the man. Not let him see any of the anxiety starting to build up higher and higher in his chest, or the doubts that continued to cloud his mind.

"Bye!" he yelled out the window, Mr. Al getting increasingly smaller as the train continued to pick up speed. It wasn't long before Selim stuck his head back into the window, letting out a sigh that he hoped none of the other passengers noticed.

Well, he was officially on his way home now. In just about fifteen hours, and Risembool and everything that had happened there would simply be a part of the past.

Closing his eyes, Selim could feel the strange shifting inside of him move as he concentrated on it, and a million doubts and whispers of conversations ran through his head without his permission.

He _wished_ it could all just be a part of the past, but there was no way that was ever going to happen.

* * *

And once again, hooray for two years. Sorry again if it didn't seem like much really happened in this chapter. We're really gonna start on the new 'arc' of the story with the next chapter, so hopefully that will be a bit more exciting. Like I said, everything's been a little crazy, which probably explains the last of action here since I had to write the chapter pretty fast to get it out on time.

Well, I do hope you liked it anyway, and as always thanks for reading and please review.


	31. Chapter 30

Hey everyone. I'm not gonna lie, this chapter was hard to write, mainly because I'm trying to figure out where I want the rest of this story to go. The topic of post-promised day Pirde lets you go in a million different directions, and I'm not entirely sure which path is best yet. I've been thinking a lot, but I figured I needed to get a chapter out before I have to leave for college. Most of all, I just want this story to have a satisfying ending, and to hopefully end before the third year anniversary.

Oh, and I changed the time it takes to get from Risembool to Central in order to fit more with cannon, with some very much appreciated help from author Anne Camp.

Chapter 30

After the first few hours on the train, Selim felt his anxiety begin to fade ever so slightly. It wasn't really because he was getting any more comfortable with going home, but mainly because it was tiring staying paranoid and wound up for so long, especially as the fatigue started to set in.

Stifling a yawn, he stared out of the window for a moment. They were at their first stop, but truthfully he hadn't been paying any attention to the name of the city when it was called out. He still had almost ten more hours before he would get to Central anyway, so it wasn't like it particularly mattered.

Leaning his head against the cool windowpane, Selim allowed for his eyes to close softly. It'd be better to sleep near the beginning of the trip so that he didn't end up falling asleep once they were closer to his stop anyway. Even though he was tried and his fear from his whole situation was beginning to numb, he was still hesitant to actually sleep.

What if he had another dream? He didn't want to end up freaking out on the train in front of all these people. There were quite a few more around now since they'd stopped and let others on.

The train ended up pulling out of the stop before he'd managed to decide on what to do. Sighing, he leaned back against his seat he closed his eyes once again. Despite any of the fear, he still needed to get some sleep while he could. It would be late when they finally did pull into Central, and he needed to stay awake then.

Thankfully, he did end up sleeping for the next few hours. Once he did wake up, he couldn't help but be relieved that he'd been spared having any of those awful dream-memories.

Glancing out of his window, he noticed that they were once again stopped at another city. Selim figured they were about halfway to Central by this point. Probably six or so more hours on the train, give or take. Pulling away from the window, the young boy found himself getting increasingly bored with all the traveling.

That was alleviated slightly when the workers came around and he was able to buy some food and a drink. It wasn't anywhere as good as anything Mr. Al or his mother cooked, but it wasn't particularly bad either. It was edible, at least, and mostly just gave him something to do for a few moments instead of staring out the window.

When he'd finished eating however, Selim once again found himself incredibly bored. He almost liked it _better _when he was all paranoid and his mind was trying to work towards a solution to his problems. He could only do that for so long though before his brain just decided to give out. And he'd been so worried while packing he'd forgotten to keep a book or something like that to keep himself occupied too. During the ride here he'd had Mr. Al to talk to.

He wasn't really tired anymore though, so he couldn't go back to sleep. His body was starting to get rather sore from staying in the same position for so long however. Absently he decided that he'd get up and walk around a bit during the next stop, just to stretch himself some.

The rest of the trip was pretty much the same as the first half. He did end up walking around during their next stop, about two hours later, as well as taking another small nap. Other than that though, almost nothing else had happened for the next five hours. Looking out the window now, it was almost pitch dark, until the faint lights of a few of the smaller towns around the outskirts of Central began to blink into sight up ahead.

Now that his home was so close, the panic and anxiety began to come back full force once again. He didn't _want_ the constant guards watching him, he didn't _want _to not have any friends his age anymore. Even if he used to be some horrible monster, it just didn't seem fair if he really had changed for the better.

Sighing loudly, he forced himself to shake those thoughts away. There wasn't anything he could do about this now. Running away would just be a huge red flag that something really was horribly, horribly wrong, and besides, he couldn't do that to his mother. Even if Mr. Al had an ulterior motive for watching him, he couldn't think of what his mother could have wanted with him.

Why had she wanted to take care of some inhuman monster? Surely she had to know what he really was, right?

He couldn't think of an answer, but no matter what, she'd always been nothing but kind to him. When he didn't have any motive, it was nearly impossible to think of her as anything other than his mother.

Despite the excruciatingly slow passage of time the rest of the train ride had, the last bit seemed to be almost instantaneous. Before he knew it, they were pulling into Central Station and he found himself closing his eyes, taking a deep breath to prepare himself. For what, he wasn't sure, but he just knew that he had to be prepared for it.

It wasn't long once the train stopped and several of the passengers began to get off did he stand up as well and followed them out. When he stepped onto the platform, he immediately caught sight of his mother, two of the guards from his house standing with her as well, once of them already holding his luggage.

Smiling brightly, he quickly ran over to the woman and hugged her. He couldn't help but genuinely relax when she started to hug him back, instantly beginning to tell her that he missed her and that the trip had been so much fun and thanks so, _so _much for letting him go.

His mother simply chuckled at his enthusiasm, giving him one last squeeze before letting go and straightening herself. Even still, she made sure to hold onto his hand, and looking up at her face now, it was easy to see the relief in her eyes.

"I'm so glad you had fun dear, how about you tell me all about it on the way home," she said, starting to lead him out of the crowded station. Selim simply nodded, quickly realizing how late it was and that his mother probably would want to get home as soon as they could. He wasn't sure how long she'd been here waiting for him, but knowing her she probably made sure to come at least an hour early just to make sure they wouldn't end up missing his train.

Once they were in the car Selim quickly started going into more detail about the whole trip, telling her about anything he might have left out whenever he talked to her on the phone. Of course, he left out anything about the shadows or dreams, but at the moment they'd almost completely left his mind. He'd been nervous beforehand, but actually being back with his mother almost made his feel normal again.

By the time they reached his house, the excitement from being back was starting to fade ever so slightly, but even still he practically ran inside, his mother and the guard with his luggage following at a slower pace.

When a black figure started slinking out of the corner of his eye, the young boy jolted, quickly spinning to face it. Almost instantly relief started to flood through him at the sight of his cat rubbing lazily against the doorframe.

With all that had been happening, he'd practically forgotten that he even _had_ a cat…

"Shadow!" he said excitedly, quickly sitting on his knees in front of the animal so that he could pet it. Shadow started rubbing against the boy instead of the door now, his mother and the guard walking into the house as well while he sat.

"Yeah, I missed you too," he told the cat happily, although he absently started frowning when he remembered one of the last things that had happened concerning the small animal before he left.

_Don't see why they let him have that cat, with that stupid name._

Oh, shadows… now that made sense.

Quickly forcing himself to smile before anyone noticed, he stood up once again. Turning towards his mother, he wasn't quite able to keep himself from yawning. For some reason he would probable never fathom, a whole lot of sitting around doing nothing sure did make you tired.

"I know you probably want to tell me all about your trip, but maybe we should just get something to eat before heading off to bed. You seem rather tired. After all, traveling does that to you," his mother said, and reluctantly Selim nodded. He _did _want to stay up and talk to her more, it was something to do that didn't make him paranoid and scared, when he'd either been that or bored or sleeping all day. He _was _tired though, and he was sure that she was as well.

"Alright, that sounds good," he agreed, following her into the kitchen while being careful not to let himself trip over his cat. It seemed like the old thing really had missed him while he'd been gone, barely detaching itself from his leg as he walked. Selim couldn't help but find himself feeling a bit guilty about that. Shadow had slipped his mind almost entirely after the first few days of his trip.

Sitting down at his table, the boy tried to push those thoughts from his mind. It hadn't been his fault that things had gotten so confusing so quickly. He was sure that Shadow wouldn't mind, if she ever could understand what had happened in the first place. Which, truthfully, she probably wouldn't, so there really wasn't anything to worry about at all.

Selim couldn't help but wonder when he'd started thinking about things so logical, instead of with his emotions instead. He truthfully couldn't remember if it'd been before or after this whole trip and figuring out about these whole powers and such.

His mother placed a small plate of casserole in front of him, he guessed some left over dinner. He quickly started eating, taking the chance when she sat down across from him to continue talking for just a little bit longer.

"Thanks again for letting me go stay with Mr. Al, can I go again sometime? We should both go, that would be even better, and I'm sure he wouldn't mind. He already said I could come back again whenever I wanted," Selim said. Across from him his mother chuckled slightly before nodding.

"That would be fun, but I think it's best for us to spend a little time at home before planning another trip, we don't want to drive Alphonse insane, after all," she said, and reluctantly Selim nodded as well. She hadn't said no, after all, and he was sure after a few months if he started bringing it up again he could eventually wear her down. And she'd probably like the idea of coming with him as well, if just so that she wouldn't be separated from him for so long again.

Once he'd finished eating, which didn't take very long, even as a leftover it was much better than the train food, he went to his room. His mother walked with him, seeming very reluctant when she finally shut his door and said goodnight. Not that Selim blamed her, he wasn't particularly in the mood to sleep either, even if his body was very clearly saying otherwise.

Looking around his familiar room, he couldn't help but relax slightly. His luggage was pushed against one wall, which he walked over to and opened up just so that he could get his pajamas out. He would put the rest of it away tomorrow when he was less tired.

Walking over to his bed, his cat jumped up as well, laying down at the end of it. Rubbing her head, Selim glanced over at his suitcase one last time. That old stuffed doll was in there, and even though he'd told Mr. Al that he still liked it, he definitely didn't feel any desire to sleep with it anymore. It wasn't like the young man to use something like that to gloat, but it still left a bad feeling in him.

Laying down, he quickly tried to lose himself in the comfortable familiarity of home. It did help to delude quite a bit of the fear, even if it wasn't a complete cure, and he knew it wouldn't last forever. Once he was used to being here again, his mind would start warring against him, and he knew that would come much sooner than he would like.

There wasn't anything he could do at the moment about that though, or possibly ever. He didn't have the free range and access to things here like he did out in Risembool. There was a much higher chance for people to find out, and no matter what, he couldn't let that happen.

His cat having moved itself to lay on his feet, Selim slowly managed to fall to sleep. Even if being home felt better than he thought it would, he knew that it was only a matter of time before that all fell away, so he better just enjoy it while he could.

* * *

Sorry that not much happened, like I said, I'm having quite a bit of trouble. I'm sure I'll work it out, and no worries, never going to discontinue this story. It was a bit funny writing about Selim being so happy to be home when I'm getting ready to leave and move all the way across the country.

Anyway, thanks as always for reading, I hope you liked this anyway. Please review and maybe, I don't know, if you have any ideas for a direction I could take this shoot um by. I'm not promising to use them, but they might spin my mind in the right direction.


	32. Chapter 31

Hey people, finally got around to a new chapter. I do have a small announcement to make in that I'm going to be doing NaNoWriMo this November, so I won't be able to update that month. I'll try to get out one more update before then, but I'm terribly sorry if I'm not able to. This story is still in a transition phase and I'm trying to figure out what I want, so it's been harder for me to write lately. It's a bit better than the stump I was in last chapter now, so hopefully slowly but surely I'll get it done.

Chapter 31

When Selim awoke the next morning, he actually found himself caught a bit off guard to find himself back in his room, the loud humming of cars and people from outside his house having knocked him out of his sleep. He'd just been getting used to the spare room of Al's house and the extreme quiet of Risembool, and now he had to readjust back to the sounds of the city again.

Pushing himself up, the black haired boy simply sat on his bed for a moment, trying to fully wake up. What was he going to do today? He wasn't all that sure, as far as he knew they didn't have any real plans. He hadn't had much time to talk to mother last night because he'd gotten home so late and they were both tired. He'd probably end up spending most of the day with her, catching up with how she had been as well as telling her all the details of his trip.

Or well, all of the details he could actually tell anyone. He still didn't know what quite to do with everything else. Well, keep it a secret, of course. It was still much too dangerous to let anyone know.

Rubbing at his eyes, Selim slowly got out of bed, getting dressed for the day before leaving his room. There was something strange about being back here now. While last night the familiarity of it all had been comforting, there was just something that felt off about the whole thing now. It was exactly the same as he remembered it, but he most definitely wasn't.

Walking through the hallway and down the stairs, he wasn't surprised when he entered the main living room and saw a guard standing alert by the door.

The child forced a small smile onto his face and nodded at the man as he passed, even when his insides twisted at the reminder of his previously unnoticed entrapment. That's what it was, really. He was trapped here. Even though they allowed him to leave for a little bit, he just didn't know if they would ever let something like that happen forever. For him to ever really go off on his own for good. He'd thought a lot about what the constant watch he was under meant when he was at Mr. Al's, but being here now made it feel all the more real.

They _knew_ there was something strange about him. Maybe not the extent of his powers and that he would be able to use them again and maybe not the actual guards. They probably didn't know anything besides the bare minimum, but whoever had stationed them to be there must have known.

For a moment he tried to see if he could convince himself that it was just because his mother had been an important person that they were here, but that reasoning just didn't seem to stack up in his head anymore. There wasn't any reason that someone would come after his mother. Even if she felt unsafe, so long after she'd been in any sort of news, she wouldn't need any more than just one guard at most.

Coming into the kitchen he unsuccessfully tried to push all of those thoughts to the back of his mind. His mother was already awake, cooking something from the smell of it. He couldn't have her seeing that there was something wrong with him. The older woman turned around, a smile on her face at the sight of him, which he quickly attempted to return.

"Good morning mother," he said happily, taking a seat at the kitchen table. She nodded at him before turning back around to face the stove before answering.

"Good morning Selim. Did you sleep well?" she asked. The boy instantly nodded without even thinking about it, but once he did he realized that it wasn't actually a lie. He'd fallen to sleep rather quickly, despite the anxiety that had built up in him during most of his trip back. It had dissipated once he actually was faced with being home again and being able to see his mother, although it was steadily starting to rise once again.

"Yes, I'm really glad to be home," he said, realizing that she wouldn't have been able to see him nod with her back turned. She had turned back around now, two plates in her hands that she set on the table. Selim quickly stood up to help her, bringing over a few plates and silverware. It was more instinct acting on him than anything else, his body instantly resetting itself back into his old routines.

"That's great dear, I'm very happy to have you home. It was so quiet when you were gone," She said, Selim nodding. He guessed it would have been a bit lonely for her all alone. It would get pretty quiet when it was just the two of them – not including the guards, of course – so it was strange to think about what it must have been like to be in this big house all alone. Sure, there were times when his mother went out, leaving him by himself, but never for very long.

He didn't know if that was because she was dotting on him, or if it was something else entirely anymore.

The rest of breakfast was quickly put in front of him after that, and the two started eating. Selim wasn't surprised when his mother started asking him about how his time away had been, and he instantly started going off about some of the things that had happened. He mainly tried to stick to talking about how Mr. Al had started teaching him alchemy, as well as just what Risembool looked like, and playing with Ethan and things like that. Thankfully those few subjects could be expanded on quite a bit.

She seemed to like that he was learning about alchemy, although he'd already heard her approval over the phone, it just seemed more real to actually hear it in person. He didn't bother to really go into any details about what he was learning, since he knew she didn't actually know every much about how the science really worked. Instead he just talked about how great of a teacher Mr. Al was and that it was really fun and other things like that which made her smile.

Even with all of the doubt and fear swirling inside of him, he still liked to see her smiling because of him.

He also managed to talk about Ethan quite a bit, but not as much as with the alchemy. Since he hadn't been able to see him for a little less than the second half of his stay because he was grounded, that made sense. There was also the fact that he wasn't going to tell her about how they had snuck out during that one night, or how he showed him the small bit of inky black shadows before he left.

Either way, his mother seemed amused by Selim's description of the hyper young boy and the places that he'd dragged Selim around to. She said it was good that he'd managed to make a friend, and there was just another reason for them to go back someday. The black haired boy tried to hide the hope growing inside of him at hearing her say that, but he could tell that he hadn't been entirely successful.

Once they finished eating Selim helped the older woman gather up and clean the dishes before they went into the main room to continue talking.

It became increasingly harder for the black haired child to keep up the happy, energetic appearance with the two guards standing silently by the door. How had it never bothered him anymore? He used to barely even notice they were there if he didn't need them for something or another. It was so strange.

It still wasn't until about an hour later before Selim was able to get an excuse to actually leave the room, his mother standing up and saying that she was going to make herself some tea. When she turned to ask the small boy if he wanted any, he shook his head, still forcing the plastered smile on his face as he glanced over his shoulder before speaking.

"No, that's fine. Is it okay if I go play outside some though?" he asked. The older woman nodded, chuckling slightly at his question.

"Of course dear, I'll make lunch in about an hour or so," she said. Selim nodded before leaving, quickly making his way to the fenced in back yard.

Stepping onto the deck, he forgot for a split second that the old one had collapsed and they had gotten a new one built right before he had left. That was the whole reason he'd even had the chance to leave in the first place, because Ed and Al had been here to help them.

That did not seem like a little over two weeks ago. It felt much more like a little over two _years_ ago instead, with everything that had happened in that short amount of time.

Forcing himself to push those thoughts away for now, he started down into the actual yard. He always liked it back here, with all of the flowers in the spring and so many other plants during the rest of the year. He still liked it of course, but it didn't seem quite so impressive or big when compared to the vast fields of the countryside and the exotic plants that Mr. Al had managed to pick up over his journeys.

Despite this, he still found himself calming down a bit as he walked along the side of the flowerbeds. His cat must have either followed him outside without his noticing or his mother had let him out before he'd come down stairs, but either way the old black animal was following him through the flowers. Just like a shadow.

They weren't really shadows, if he thought about them though. Shadows weren't solid and they couldn't cut things or anything like that. They were just these strange black masses he couldn't explain but could somehow control, but for some reason it felt right to call them shadows despite this.

Selim stopped when he reached the far corner of his yard. He couldn't actually see over the fence, it was much too high for that. The child instantly spun around, not liking the strange claustrophobic feeling that had begun to grown inside of him as he looked at the tall stone wall.

After walking around the circumference of his yard a few times Selim ended up sitting down at the small gazebo near the center, staring out at nothing as he tried to think. Was his home really like a prison and he'd just never noticed before, or was he overreacting over everything and looking way too into every little thing? He didn't have any idea.

He wasn't completely overreacting though; he didn't think it was possible to overreact with what was happening to him. Sighing, he scratched his cat's head as he rubbed up against his side.

"What do you think I should do, hm?" he asked the animal, only half-jokingly, because he was really starting to run out of places to turn to by this point. The black cat just stared at him for a moment before returning to kneading up against his side. Selim really couldn't say that he'd been expecting a different sort of answer.

He couldn't search around here, not without fear of getting caught and who knows what happening to him. So he needed to figure something else out instead. Some way to find out what he was and why this was happening, without any chances of someone else finding out what he was doing.

Selim sighed, leaning his head down on his knees when no answers came as to just how he could do that. There had to be something. Something he could do or find that would explain everything and help him through this huge mess his life had become.

Try as he might though, the child just couldn't wrap his mind around what that might be. The large stone walls around his little prison home seemed to be blocking out all the answers.

* * *

Gah, short boring chapter is short and boring. I'm sorry about that, I really am. Things should start to pick up again soon, come December when I should be able to start updating again. Wish me luck with NaNoWriMo though. Is anyone else going to try it?

Well, I hope you didn't hate this chapter too much, and as always please review.


	33. Chapter 32

Ah! I'm finally back. Sorry about the huge wait, but I did manage to finish and win NaNoWriMo if anyone's interested. Also back on the east coast for winter break, which is a nice relaxation. Hopefully I'll be able to update normally again.  
Oh, and for anyone interested, A2D the Colourblind Zebra and I are planning a collaboration for the New Year, which will be centered around Pride as well (what else would you expect from us?) so you can look forward to that.

Chapter 32

The next week at his house was a strange combination of comforting and suffocating, the drastic swing between the two emotions wearing greatly on the boy as time went on.

There were moments when he would let his guard down, just relaxing with his mother or playing with Shadow or reading a book, and he would forget for a second everything that was happening. He'd be back to the normal boy he was before he left home, before those dreams had started to plague him, had started to become real. For those small lapses of time, he was actually content.

And then something would always happen to remind him of what was really going on. He'd catch a glimpse of his guards out of the corner of his eyes, actually saying Shadow's name would send chills up his spine, a random word in his book would trigger memories of what was happening to him.

Just like that the small genuine happiness he'd been feeling would evaporate, and whatever smile had been on his face would transform into some grotesque replica that he'd form in order to keep anyone around him from suspecting there was anything wrong at all. Somehow, the fake always seemed to work just as well as the real thing.

In the week that he'd been home, he'd also managed to stay just as at a loss for what he was supposed to do now as when he'd first arrived. It almost seemed like the most appropriate answer was just nothing. Just do nothing and say nothing and everything will be fine.

"Good morning mother," he said as he walked into the kitchen, that false cheer filling his voice this time around. Now wasn't a time where he could forget about what was happening, not when he'd had another one of his horrible nightmares last night. Those awful shadows tearing and ripping, just so much blood everywhere that he desperately hoped wasn't human, but knew in his gut that it was just foolish to think otherwise.

And the image of a man, a tall man in white with golden hair, who seemed to radiate light from his very form. The feeling of both respect and a deep down hidden terror at the sight of him.

He was starting to wonder if he even had the right to call them nightmares anymore though. If they really were real, then it might be more appropriate to call them memories instead.

It was still hard for him to fit together what he saw in those… visions as being him though. Even if it was the truth.

"Good morning dear, did you sleep well?" his mother asked, turning around from the stove as she did. Selim nodded, a false smile once again on his face. If anything, the acting had gotten a lot easier the more he worked at it.

"Yes, thank you," he lied happily. Lying was starting to become easier as well, the gnawing guilt inside of him whenever he did it becoming less and less. Selim couldn't decide if that was a good thing or not yet. It was good because if he got better at lying, then there was less of a chance for anyone to find out that there was anything wrong to begin with. The better his act, the safer he was. No one would know he was a monster and he'd be safe.

The other side of that were the shocks of terror that ran through him whenever he was able to shrug off the guilt with little feeling at all. But he wasn't… it wasn't like he was turning into an inhumane monster or anything like that just because he was trying to save himself. The fact that he was worried about something like that proved that it wasn't true, right? Of course he was right.

They ate breakfast with the same, meaningless small talk that Selim had gotten used to. After a week, they had stopped talking about his trip as much, which the black haired boy couldn't help but be thankful for.

When had he started thinking of talking with his mother as meaningless? It wasn't meaningless. He was just… he was just still tired from last night. From that horrible dream. From all of the stress of having to lie all the time. That was all.

He ended up staying with his mother, helping her around the house until lunch time. She wasn't meaningless. Nothing about her was meaningless. Even if she knew that he was some sort of monster at one point, she was pretty much one of the only things that mattered to him anymore. He couldn't imagine her ever trying or wanting to destroy (Kill? Hurt?) him.

After they finished eating lunch through Selim ended up going back to his room. He didn't want to seem too clingy or anything like that, after all.

It seemed like every move he made had to be calculated so that no one thought there was anything wrong with him. It was… it was exhausting, that's what it was. It was harder than it had been back at Mr. Al's house, because there weren't any guards there. He'd been able to go off on his own whenever it got too much, and he didn't have to fear the fact that there were people right outside his door listening to him.

He tried to push those thoughts out of his mind as he opened up the alchemy book that Al had given him in his lap. Most days it helped to distract him for a bit, so he was hoping that it would do the same today.

He was a little over halfway through the book now, so he figured he'd probably be able to finish the book, assuming that it started getting even tougher and he started to slow down a bit, in about two weeks or so. He wasn't too happy about that, not liking the idea of his source of distraction running about, but he told himself that he could just get more books once this one was finished.

As he started to read, the stress that had been building up before in his mind started to fade ever so slightly. He was able to lose himself in the science, although it never really felt like he was learning something new, which unnerved him slightly. It was more like he was remembering, that with each sentence he read it was almost as if he was saying in his head 'oh yeah, I knew that' even though in truth he hadn't beforehand.

This should probably worry him more than it actually did, but he just didn't have the strength to worry about anything else anymore.

He hadn't meant to fall asleep while he was reading, but before he knew it he was pushing himself up from the heap he'd fallen into, head only halfway on his pillow, his blanket having fallen to the floor and the book still open, but pushed to the side.

Running a hand through his black hair, Selim wondered how long he'd been asleep for. Hopefully not long enough that anyone would start to worry. That was the last thing he wanted to happen.

Quickly straightening out his clothes and hair, he walked out of his room. The guards were nearby as always, and Selim tried to ignore them like he used to. He was starting to get good at it again. It took work, just like the rest of his act, but it wasn't too bad. If he had to say so himself, even with the stress and emotion clogging up the whole situation, he was still a pretty good actor.

And that wasn't a bad thing. He was acting. This was like a little play. A nice little play to keep him safe and sound. No one was getting hurt by his ruse; if anything it was helping people. Sure, most notably himself, but he didn't think his mother would be very pleased if he turned into a monster and they had to kill him. It would really upset her if something like that happened. It had to. He was her son.

Walking down the hallway, he ignored the taunting voices in the back of his head. As they mocked him, telling him that he wasn't anyone's son. He was a monster. Some sort of devil creature. That they _should_ kill him for what he'd done in the past. For what he was capable of doing in the future. That had had no right to live. They almost seemed real, like he could actually hear them outside of his mind, but he knew that wasn't true. It was just the stress. He had to get a hold of himself before he really did start going insane.

He found his mother in the kitchen, starting to cook dinner. He really must have been out of it for a while, but he was starting to get just a bit hungry. Seeing out the window behind her, the sun was starting its decent, although he still hadn't gotten a chance to look at a clock to tell the exact time.

"Hello Selim. How are you doing?" his mother asked as he took a seat at the kitchen table, watching her cook absently.

"Good. I feel asleep reading the book Mr. Al gave me," he told her, and the older woman just chuckled slightly and nodded, apparently not seeing anything out of the place with the boy taking a small nap, thankfully. There wasn't anything wrong with that, after all.

They talked a bit more as she continued to cook, and it wasn't long before they were eating and Selim excused himself to the back yard to play with his cat. Couldn't be holed up in his room too much after all, they might start to worry if he was. He had to keep a balance, he had to keep them thinking he was happy and innocent and that nothing was wrong.

Shadow didn't really seem in the mood to play, instead just lounging on the picnic table, letting the black haired boy pet her. Selim was actually pretty okay with this. He wasn't really in the mood either, he just couldn't let them thinking he'd changed.

It was getting hard to remember how he had been before all of this had happened though, which was making it even more difficult to act like nothing was wrong. He could barely even fathom what had taken up his time before the constant worrying and fear. Whatever it was, it must have been nice. To not have to be scared he was going to be killed, to think he was normal and actually be genuinely happy.

He wished he could go back to that.

Selim felt a shudder run through his body as he hand ran along Shadow's smooth fur, and he quickly ducked his head down, squeezing his eyes shut as tight as he could.

He was fine. He was perfectly fine. J-just tired from not sleeping much last night. Even though he had that nap. Just exhausted from having to act all the time. Worn out from all the lies. He was fine though. Just fine… j-just…

Standing up, he ignored the curious if annoyed look that Shadow gave him as he started towards the house. He didn't look up at his guards as he passed them, and thankfully didn't run into his mother as he made his way up to his room. He didn't run, he just walked at a normal pace, watching his feet as he did, like he'd simply gotten bored of playing outside and was going to his room.

Shutting the bedroom door behind him, he managed to lock it before his act finally broke and he ran to his bed.

Burying himself in his blankets and pillows, he tried to muffle as much of the sound as he could as the sobs shook his body. He didn't know what was wrong with him, but he couldn't stop the tears, instead just hoping that no one would hear his cries.

He wasn't… he couldn't… he had no idea when the last time he really cried about all of this had been. Probably the time when he first used those shadows and saw that they were really his. That had been a while ago now. But why was… why was he crying now? Nothing had triggered it. If anything, today had been a relatively good day. So why was he crying so hard? Why had he suddenly broken down like this?

As was usual, he didn't get any answer for his questions, instead just slowly managing to get a hold of himself again. His face was red and his eyes bloodshot from the tears, but hopefully he wouldn't have to leave his room for a while. No one had come in while he'd been sobbing, so chances are no one had heard him. He could keep on going with his act in perfect order.

No one would ever be the wiser.

* * *

Once again, sorry for the long wait. Also sorry if this chapter didn't have anything too exciting. I think I have a bit of an idea where I want this story to go now, so that's a good thing, right? Poor Selim is just starting to break apart at the seams from all the stress.

Anyway, I do hope you liked the chapter, and as always, please review.


	34. An Explanation

Hi. Wow, okay it's been a while. A really long while. I'm not even sure what to say or why I'm posting this on this story in particular. Come to think or it I should probably post this on all of my unfinished works while I'm here.

I feel really really bad about this. Especially because this was something that I loved and I met so many awesome and nice people on here and I just stopped. Like, went from updating five or six stories on a nearly weekly basis to nothing. And I stopped talking to all the awesome people I met and never really gave any reason why and have no idea if any of them are even still on here because it's been nearly two years and yeah.

But to my surprise I've been getting some reviews lately and the only reason I even know about them is my email still sends messages from here to my phone, and some people have been asking for a reason or if I'll ever be continuing and I feel that you all at least deserve an answer.

I started developing depression right around the time I stopped updating, and a major factor in it has been that I don't know if I'm actually as good at the things I thought I was good at as I led myself to believe, writing in particular. I couldn't bring myself to write anything new or to even look at anything old for fear of having those thoughts proven to be true.

I've been getting help and am working on all those issues though, so I don't want any of you to worry. I desperately want to be able to write again one day, but I'm not sure if I will ever return to these stories even if I am able to. I barely even look at anything Fullmetal Alchemist anymore, and have really moved on in terms of fandom. Truthfully, I was kind of hitting a major rode block with this story anyway. I have NO IDEA what was going to happen next. I pretty much wrote myself into a hole I'm not sure I would be able to get out of without some major reworking. And probably Selim just turning evil again and dying or something, I don't know.

If anyone is interested in this story though, I mean like, willing to take it over and adopt it or something though, contact me I guess? I'm perfectly willing to let someone else take control if they feel they can. Because for some reason I guess people actually liked this story and I feel bad about disappointing them.


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